Birth of a Policy:

Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965

Presentation By: Malika BennettStrategic Advocacy - June 9, 2012

• United States federal statute enacted April 11, 1965 and signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

• ESEA is the most influential law impacting education passed by congress. First Passed with relative ease (House 263-153; Senate 73-18). First federal law mandating federal funds to primary and secondary education

• Improve educational opportunities for disadvantaged children, federal government's definitive entry into public education

• Part of Johnson’s "war on poverty" act (close skill gaps in reading, writing, math, etc among nation’s disadvantaged)

• Act funds public education including: professional development, instructional materials, resources for educational programs, parental involvement promotion, etc.

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What is ESEA?

President Lyndon B. Johnson

Sections of ESEA (1965)

• Title I - Financial Assistance To Local Educational Agencies For The Education Of Children Of Low-Income Families

• Title II - School Library Resources, Textbooks, and other Instructional Materials

• Title III - Supplementary Educational Centers and Services

• Title IV - Educational Research And Training

• Title V - Grants To Strengthen State Departments Of Education

• Title VI - General Provisions

Social Climate

• America has historically favored local control of schools• Prior to the 1950’s federal involvement in education was almost

non-existent• Many year’s prior to the 1960’s U.S resisted a national education

policy• In fact as late as 1930’s less than 1/5 of adults over 25 had

completed high school

What prompted interest in creating national education policy?

Timeline for Education Policy

1954 - Brown vs. Board of Education requires public schools to educate all children, regardless of race.

1954 - The National Defense Education Act (NDEA) (Public Law 84-911) provided funding to United States education institutions.

1964 - The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-352) authorized the Commissioner of Education to arrange for support for institutions of higher education and school districts to provide in-service programs for assisting instructional staff in dealing with problems caused by desegregation.

1965 - Primary and secondary education is funded through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) (Public Law 89-10). The ESEA was designed to address educational inequality.

1965 - The first Federal grant program targeting students with disabilities, the Elementary and Secondary Amendments of 1965 (Public Law 89-313), was passed. This law authorized grants to state institutions and state-operated schools devoted to the education of children with disabilities.

Source: http://www.avoiceonline.org/edpol/timeline.html

Major Political Advocates of ESEA

Francis Keppel, Jr.Former Harvard grad & Harvard dean; U.S. Commissioner of Education; Chief architect of ESEA bill; helped shaped policy; influential in bringing opposing parties together (think race, religion, republicans, etc.)

President Lyndon B. Johnson A former teacher who had seen impact poverty had on his students; President of the United States; signed ESEA into law in 1965

Other political influencers: President Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy; Much of ESEA came from the late President Kennedy’s proposal; Martin Luther King, Jr.

ESEA Advocates

• President Johnson’s Administration• US Office of Education (USOE) • Democratic Party (House & Senate Majority)• National Advisory Council for the Education of

Disadvantaged Children• National Education Association (NEA) • National Welfare Rights Organization• Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law• NAACP• African Americans, Minorities, etc. • Poor and disadvantaged populations

ESEA Opposition

The three R’s are ESEA’s main opposition: Race, Religion, and Republicans

• States-Rights Conservatives • Anti-Government Conservatives • Catholics (opposed any bill that would direct federal money to public

but not private schools • Congressman for Southern States • Congressman from Northern States with large African American

populations

Communications Efforts Surrounding ESEA

• Civil Rights Movement and War on Poverty provided political context for passage of ESEA; Much of ESEA’s public communication was naturally tied to these movements:

– Types of communication: Marches, Speeches, Protests, National Media Coverage (TV, Newspaper, Radio), Advertisements, Pamphlets, Academic journals, books written about achievement gaps, music, etc.

– The Civil Rights Movement made this bill successful – it drove awareness on issues of inequality.

War on Poverty Ad: LBJ 1964Presidential Campaign

Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phYimkeI0LA

Key Re-Authorizations of ESEA

1965 - Congress passes ESEA. It is signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson

1994 - ESEA reauthorized, introduced under President Bill Clinton as the Improving America's Schools Act (IASA). (Extra help to disadvantaged students, charter schools, safe and drug-free schools, increases in bilingual and immigrant education funding, education technology programs, etc.)

2002 - No Child Left Behind act is the reauthorization of ESEA. Signed into law by President George W. Bush (assessments for all students, achievement standards set by states, not federal government)

2011 - No Child Left Behind act (reauthorization of ESEA) is renewed and signed back into law by President Barrack Obama

That’s all folks

Thank you!

For more information Google: “ESEA of 1965”