Inspiring Ideas for Today’s Leaders
When Conservative Leaders for Education was founded in
2015, we wanted to achieve two major goals. First, to
create a network of strong, conservative policymakers in
states to help them enact their education policy goals.
Second, to find out what conservative education policy
is working for parents and students at the local level
and share it. This catalog is our periodic report on our
progress toward achieving those two goals. Our members
are thoughtful leaders who have a vested interest in the
wellbeing of the future of students educated in their
states. They wholeheartedly want to see every child grow
and prosper in a robust and multi-faceted education
system that will set them up for success in life.
Over 20 policies in this catalog have been signed into
law and are being implemented in various ways around the
country. These are real policies. We hope that by giving
them exposure, other conservative lawmakers and
education officials will find inspiration to pursue
similar policies. This list is by no means complete.
Rather, it highlights some of the policies our members
have successfully implemented in their states.
Driving And Rewarding Excellence As A Component of a
State’s School Finance System
It is often said “you get what you pay for.” Yet
recently in school finance, the heaviest focus has been
on increased funding for chronically poor-performing
schools. In the state budget, Arizona has adopted a new
and innovative concept related to the state’s school
financing system – Results-Based Funding.
Arizona House Education Committee Chairman and
Conservative Leaders for Education Member Representative
Paul Boyer worked closely with Governor Doug Ducey and a
broad coalition of education reformers to create a new
Results-Based
Fund in the state’s school finance formula that focuses
instead on top performing schools.
Ensuring Academic Development and Growth of Every
Student Matters in an Accountability System
In an effort to find a straight forward way to assess
school effectiveness, the creation of accountability
systems have had perverse effects – they incentivized a
concentration on one subgroup of students at the expense
of other students. While that seems like a simple thing
to correct, to do so requires careful design of an
accountability plan.
“Proficiency” is an important measure and marker, and is
a logical place to focus accountability efforts. But
many systems have learned that focusing exclusively
around a proficiency “line” creates strong
incentives—intended or not—to ignore students that are
either well above or significantly short of proficiency.
This line also shifts the majority of time and resources
onto the subset of students near the proficiency line
(to ensure those below it reach it and those slightly
above it don’t fall below it).
Fund in the state’s school finance formula that focuses
instead on top performing schools.
Linking Career and Technical Education to a State’s
Accountability System
New accountability systems under ESSA and strengthening
Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs are two of
the leading topics in state education policy today. With
the recent passage of Senate Bill 1, drafted by State
Education Committee Chair and CL4E Member Mike Wilson,
Kentucky became one of the first states to legislatively
respond to ESSA with comprehensive standards and a
strong accountability plan.
The new law gives “credit” in the accountability system
to schools where students complete industry-recognized
certificates in areas of high demand, as established by
existing regional workforce development boards.
This new provision will encourage schools to develop
stronger partnerships with local businesses and
establish programs that offer more options for students
to obtain career and technical certificates. Instead of
driving this result with specific mandates or state-wide
regulations, SB 1 produces goals and incentives while
allowing local schools and leaders the flexibility to
design programs that will work best for them.
