U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today announced that Florida has been approved under the new State Flexibility Authority Program (State-Flex), making it the first state to benefit from unprecedented flexibility under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. State-Flex allows states to consolidate certain federal formula funds to use as they deem appropriate for state-level priorities in exchange for increased accountability for student academic progress.

Approved states must also enter into performance agreements with between four and 10 school districts, half of which must be high poverty, allowing those districts to consolidate certain federal funds to meet the goals of NCLB and make adequately yearly progress in alignment with the states State-Flex plan.

As part of its State-Flex plan, Florida has entered into local performance agreements with eight school districts: Broward, Escambia, Hillsborough, Jefferson, Lake, Marion, Putnam and Volusia. Florida's State-Flex plan has three main goals:

• Every child who is below proficient in reading and mathematics will have individual proficiency targets that, if met, will lead to proficiency within four years.
• Every parent of a public school student will know where his or her child is in relation to proficiency and how far the student must advance each year to achieve grade-level proficiency
• The rate of teacher-initiated separation from teaching within the first five years will decrease by 50 percent.

Approved states are also able to specify how all school districts use Innovative Program funds under Title V, Part A. Funds for state-level activities from the following programs may be consolidated: Title I, which provides formula grants to school districts, which then allocates most of these funds to individual Title I schools based on their number of poor children; Reading First, grants to help states, school districts and schools ensure that every child can read at grade level or above by the end of the third grade; Teacher and Principal Training and Recruitment, which provides grants to help increase student achievement by elevating teacher and principal quality through recruitment, hiring, and retention strategies; Enhancing Education through Technology, Innovative Programs, Safe and Drug-Free Schools and 21st Century Community Learning Centers program.

Like districts that receive Local-Flex authority from the secretary, the selected four to 10 school districts will gain flexibility in use of funds under these programs: Teacher and Principal Training and Recruitment, Enhancing Education through Technology, Safe and Drug-Free Schools, and Innovative Programs.

The secretary is authorized to grant State-Flex Authority to up to seven state education agencies. Participating states will be required to report to the Secretary annually on how they are using the flexibility to improve student achievement and whether the chosen districts and the state are making adequate yearly progress.

For more information, please visit www.nochildlefbehind.gov/ or www.ed.gov/nclb/freedom/local/flexibility/.

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