These letters are key policy letters signed by the Education Secretary or Deputy Secretary and are provided by the Executive Secretariat, Office of the Secretary.

Letters from 2008

• November 20, 2008—Letter to financial aid professionals to announce a short-term loan purchase program to address potential risks to scheduled subsequent disbursements for the 2008-2009 school year.

• November 10, 2008—Letter to the Chief Executive Officers of lenders participating in the Federal Family Education Loan Program regarding the extension of the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act

• August 18, 2008—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding the opportunity to participate in the Department's growth model pilot for the 2008-09 school year

• August 1, 2008—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding the "differentiated accountability" pilot project for states for the 2009-2010 school year to distinguish between schools in need of improvement and determine interventions required

• June 18, 2008—Letter to Presidents of higher education institutions participating in the Department's Federal Family Education Loan Program providing an update on recent student lending activity and the actions that the Department has taken to ensure access to federal student loans for all eligible students and their parents

• May 21, 2008—Letter to lenders participating in the Department's Federal Family Education Loan Program regarding recent volatility in credit markets and concerns about continued availability of student loans; discusses plan for continued and timely access to federal student loans for all eligible student and parent borrowers

• May 14, 2008—Letter to Senators Edward M. Kennedy and Mike Enzi, and Representatives George Miller and Howard "Buck" McKeon regarding uncertainty in credit markets, the Department of Education's efforts to provide federal student loans to borrowers, and views on legislation as Congress works to reauthorize the Higher Education Act of 1965

• April 3, 2008—Letter to Chief State School Officers encouraging states to explore initiatives to place the most effective teachers in high-need schools, and to work with school districts to identify available local, State, and Federal funding sources that can support these efforts; discusses districts where schools and teachers' unions are working together with regard to existing collective bargaining agreements, and asks Chiefs to share innovations with the Department

• March 20, 2008—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding the "differentiated accountability" pilot project for states to distinguish between schools in need of improvement and determine interventions required

• February 27, 2008—Letter to presidents of institutions of higher education participating in the Department's Federal Family Education Loan Program regarding recent volatility in credit markets, concerns about continued availability of student loans, and the Department's efforts to monitor the situation

• January 29, 2008—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding decrease in funding for the Reading First program for FY2008 and options for continuing to fund high-quality, research-based literacy instruction

• January 18, 2008—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding the decision (January 7, 2008) by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in School District of the City of Pontiac, et al. v. Secretary of the United States Department of Education in relation to compliance with requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act

Letters from 2007

• December 17, 2007—Letter to Chief State School Officers from the Deputy Secretary inviting them to undertake an independent and voluntary self-directed review of their State’s English language proficiency (ELP) standards and assessments using the Framework on High-Quality English Language Proficiency Standards and Assessments

• December 7, 2007—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding the opportunity to participate in the Department's growth model pilot for the 2007-08 school year

• October 30, 2007—Letter to School Officials announcing availability of brochures about balancing student privacy and school safety

• September 5, 2007—Letter to Honorable George Miller, Honorable Dale E. Kildee, Honorable Michael N. Castle, and Honorable Howard "Buck" McKeon to provide the Department of Education's general comments on the August 28, 2007, "Miller-McKeon discussion draft" of Title I of the No Child Left Behind Act, as posted on the Committee’s Web site

• August 3, 2007—Letter to Congressional conferees expressing the views of the Department of Education on the House and Senate versions of H.R. 2669, the "College Cost Reduction Act of 2007" and the "Higher Education Access Act of 2007," respectively

• July 23, 2007—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act’s provisions related to having all core academic subject classes taught by highly qualified teachers (HQT)

• April 23, 2007—Letter to Chief State School Officers providing an update on implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act and discussing the reauthorization proposal, "Building on Results: A Blueprint for Strengthening the No Child Left Behind Act"

• March 1, 2007—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding the extension of Qualified Zone Academy Bonds (QZABs) through 2007 and to remind that the 2005 allocation expires at the end of 2007

• February 28, 2007—Letter to Chief State School Officers from the Deputy Secretary regarding final regulations formalizing the Annual Mandatory Collection of Elementary and Secondary Education Data for EDFacts

• February 7, 2007—Letter to Chief State School Officers providing an update on implementation of the assessment and accountability requirements of Title I

• February 2007—Letter to Chief State School Officers, local educational agencies, Governors, institutions of higher education, associations, and others regarding availability of a guidance document, Interim Pre-pandemic Planning Guidance: Community Strategy for Pandemic Influenza Mitigation in the United States

Letters from 2006

• October 2006—Letter to Chief State School Officers, Local Educational Agencies, private schools and others regarding emergency preparedness planning for pandemic influenza and forwarding "A Planning Guide for Educators"

• October 18, 2006—Letter to Chief State School Officers and others regarding the Conference on School Safety convened by the White House in October 2006

• October 11, 2006—Letter to Chief State School Officers reminding of the opportunity to participate in the Department's growth model pilot for the 2006-07 school year

• September 5, 2006—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding efforts to ensure that all core academic subjects are taught by highly qualified and effective teachers, and encouraging states to eliminate use of High Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation (HOUSSE) procedures

• July 27, 2006—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding the LEP Partnership to design instruction better and improve academic performance for the Nation's more than 5 million limited English proficient (LEP) students

• May 15, 2006—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding more effective implementation of provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) authorizing public school choice and supplemental educational services (SES)

• May 2, 2006—Letter to Chief State School Officers and State Higher Education Agencies describing how the Department intends to implement the Academic Competitiveness Grant and the National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant

• April 2006—Letter to institutions of higher education regarding emergency preparedness planning for pandemic influenza

• March 2006—Letters regarding student loan forgiveness available for certain full-time secondary school teachers:
  version sent to Local Educational Agencies regarding teachers employed in public schools version sent to Private School Associations regarding teachers employed in nonprofit private schools

• March 2006—Letter to Local Educational Agencies regarding emergency preparedness planning for pandemic influenza (information also sent to Chief State School Officers)

• February 21, 2006—Letter to Chief State School Officers on the assessment requirements of NCLB and the growth model pilot project

• January 17, 2006—Letter to heads of Federal Departments and Agencies asking for support of a new federal government-wide effort to assist the nation's charter schools

Letters from 2005

• December 30, 2005—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding the Hurricane Education Recovery Act authorizing three new grant programs to assist school districts and schools following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

• December 14, 2005—Letter to Chief State School Officers announcing technical assistance materials and notice of proposed rulemaking regarding the policy that allows states to develop modified achievement standards and assessments for students with disabilities who can make progress toward, but may not reach, grade-level achievement standards in the same time frame as other students

• December 14, 2005—Letter to Chief State School Officers extending to states for a second year the flexibility to develop modified achievement standards and assessments

• November 21, 2005—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding a pilot project on growth models for measuring school accountability

• October 21, 2005—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding the "highly qualified teacher" provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and elements the Department will use in determining if states are in compliance

• September 29, 2005—Letter to Chief State School Officers in response to questions regarding whether the Department will waive the accountability provisions in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) regarding assessments and adequate yearly progress (AYP) for areas impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

• September 14, 2005—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding the Department's willingness to consider requests for statutory and regulatory waivers of various requirements under the Charter Schools Program to assist in serving students displaced by Hurricane Katrina

• September 7, 2005—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding Hurricane Katrina and discussing some of the major areas in which flexibility and resources are available

• August 9, 2005—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding the newly released non-regulatory guidance regarding alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities

• July 6, 2005—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding the extension of Qualified Zone Academy Bonds (QZABs) through 2005 and to remind that the 2003 allocation expires at the end of 2005

• June 7, 2005—Letter to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives transmitting the proposal for the Higher Education Act Reform Amendments of 2005 to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) to implement changes proposed in the President's Fiscal Year (FY) 2006 Budget.

• May 10, 2005—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding additional flexibility for making adequate yearly progress determinations for the students with disabilities subgroup.

• March 9, 2005—Letters to Honorable Michael Enzi and Honorable John Boehner expressing opposition to S. 250 and H.R. 366 which would reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 1998.

• January 28, 2005—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding requests for extensions for making liquidations in state-administered programs.

• January 25, 2005—Letter to Ms. Pat Mitchell, President and Chief Executive Officer, Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), regarding the Department of Education's concerns about a Ready-To-Learn television episode developed under a cooperative agreement between the Department and PBS.

Letters from 2004

• December 2, 2004—Letter to Honorable Jesse Ruiz and Honorable Randy Dunn regarding the manner in which the City of Chicago School District 299 is implementing the supplemental educational services provisions of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act

• December 2, 2004—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding the extension of Qualified Zone Academy Bonds (QZABs) through 2005 and to remind that the 2002 allocation expires at the end of 2004

• November 18, 2004—Letter to Honorable Edward Kennedy, Honorable Dale Kildee, and Honorable Chris Van Hollen in response to their letter regarding excessive special allowance payments made to certain lenders under the Federal Family Education Loan Program

• October 6, 2004—Letter to schools and education groups describing lessons learned from the Beslan school incident that might be used to protect U.S. schools

• September 30, 2004—Letter to Honorable John Boehner urging Congress to enact legislation to end excessive special allowance payments to certain lenders under the Federal Family Education Loan Program

• August 30, 2004—Letter to Honorable Maurice Hinchey and others in response to inquiry regarding the Department's decision to disallow funding for captioning or video description of certain television programming

• July 2004—Letter to Superintendents regarding the arts as a core academic subject under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the role of the arts in education

• June 7, 2004—Letter to Honorable Edward M. Kennedy and others in response to letter dated March 10, 2004, requesting additional details regarding the U.S. Department of Education's implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001

• May 2004—Letter to educators regarding the National Moment of Remembrance on Memorial Day, May 31, 2004

• April 27, 2004—Letter to Honorable Edward M. Kennedy and others in response to letter dated March 24, 2004, requesting that States be allowed to recalculate adequate yearly progress decisions based on data from the 2002-2003 school year using new flexibility offered by the Department for students with significant cognitive disabilities and limited English proficient students

• March 31, 2004—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding opportunities for flexibility in meeting the highly qualified teacher requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act

• February 24, 2004—Letter to Honorable Edward M. Kennedy and others in response to inquiry regarding the Department's implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act

• February 23, 2004—Letter to Honorable Susan Collins in response to her letter following up on the diploma mill summit

• February 20, 2004—Letter to Chief State School Officers on No Child Left Behind providing new guidance on additional flexibility concerning limited English proficient students

• January 2004—Letter to Superintendents advising of the establishment of the No Child Left Behind Superintendents Hotline

Letters from 2003

• December 11, 2003—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding opportunities for flexibility in meeting the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act for including students with disabilities in state assessment and accountability systems

• October 21, 2003—Letter to Sandra Feldman regarding whether highly qualified teachers employed by a school or district identified for improvement may provide supplemental educational services

• October 17, 2003—Letter to Honorable Ruben Hinojosa in response to his inquiry concerning the difficulties that students with diabetes may be experiencing in bringing prescribed medications and treatment devices to schools and in administering such required medications and treatments

• October 9, 2003—Letter to Honorable Susan Collins in response to her inquiry regarding diploma mills

• August 28, 2003—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding implementation of Title I choice and supplemental educational services provisions of No Child Left Behind

• July 28, 2003—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding the Teacher Assistance Corps and efforts to share ideas about improvements in teacher quality

• July 2, 2003—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding release of student information to military recruiters

• June 27, 2003—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding State accountability plans under the No Child Left Behind Act and inclusion of students with disabilities

• May, 2003—Letter to educators regarding the National Moment of Remembrance on Memorial Day, May 26, 2003

• March 24, 2003—Letter to Chief State School Officers and others regarding the 'highly qualified' teachers requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and international teacher exchange programs

• March 6, 2003—Letter to Honorable Sandy Garrett, Superintendent, Oklahoma Dept. of Ed., regarding request for waiver of maintenance of effort requirements in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act

• February 20, 2003—Letter from Education Under Secretary Eugene W. Hickok and Agriculture Under Secretary Eric M. Bost providing guidance on implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act by schools that operate school lunch programs under Provision 2 and Provision 3 of the National School Lunch Program

• February 4, 2003—Letter to Honorable John Boehner, Honorable Peter Hoekstra, and Honorable Howard 'Buck' McKeon regarding new guidance on the application of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to reporting under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act and the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act

• January 30, 2003—Memorandum to Chief State School Officers and others providing additional guidance on the application of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to reporting under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act and the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act

Letters from 2002

• October 22, 2002—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act and the importance of identifying schools in need of improvement to ensure that every child learns

• September 16, 2002—Letter to Governors regarding the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB)

• September 10, 2002—Letter to Honorable Buck McKeon regarding the Department's determination of financial responsibility for postsecondary institutions participating in the Federal student aid programs authorized by Title IV of the HEA, as amended

• September 10, 2002—Letter to Honorable Patricia Schroeder regarding the "Analysis of Reading Assessment Instruments for K-3" and discussing the use of instructional assessments as a key component of Reading First

• July 24, 2002—Dear Colleague Letter to education officials regarding implementation of No Child Left Behind and accountability, and providing guidance on adequate yearly progress

• June 14, 2002—Dear Colleague Letter to education officials regarding implementation of No Child Left Behind and providing guidance on public school choice, supplemental education services, and collective bargaining agreements

• June 6, 2002—Dear Colleague Letter to education officials regarding implementation of No Child Left Behind and plans for providing guidance

• May 17, 2002—Letter to educators regarding the National Moment of Remembrance on Memorial Day, May 27, 2002

• April 24, 2002—Letter to Chief State School Officers regarding the extension of Qualified Zone Academy Bonds (QZABs) and reminder of allocations about to expire

• April 5, 2002—Letter to Honorable Patricia Schroeder providing further clarification of guidance issued by the Department for the Reading First program

• March 26, 2002—Letter to Honorable Tammy Baldwin and 28 other Members of Congress regarding late delivery of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for 2002-03

• March 11, 2002—Letter to William H. Gray, III regarding President Bush's commitment to meeting the needs of all America's students, particularly students from disadvantaged and minority backgrounds

• February 15, 2002—Letter to Chief State School Officers highlighting key provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and listing early deadline dates for implementation

• February 11, 2002—Letter to chief state school officers regarding actions taken by the Department to address the needs of those affected by September 11 terrorist attacks

• February 7, 2002—Letter to Superintendents regarding No Child Left Behind

Letters from 2001

• December 12, 2001—Letter to Dr. J. Michael Mullen regarding GEAR UP and other postsecondary programs the Department of Education administers

• October 9, 2001—Letter to school principals asking that students, teachers, parents, and other Americans join the U.S. Secretary of Education in showing our patriotism by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at a single time and with a unified voice in classrooms across the country on Friday, October 12, 2001

• September 19, 2001—Letter to Chief State School Officers and College and University Presidents regarding reports of incidents of harassment and violence directed at persons perceived to be Arab Americans or of Middle Eastern or South Asian origin, following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001

• September 6, 2001—Letter to the American Psychological Association expressing the Department's concern over the American Psychological Association's proposal to eliminate "Footnote 4" from its accreditation standards for psychology programs

• August 13, 2001—Letter to conferees expressing the Administration's views on issues related to the House and Senate versions of H.R. 1, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the "Better Education for Students and Teachers Act of 2001"

• August 13, 2001—Letter to conferees on the House and Senate versions of H.R. 1, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the "Better Education for Students and Teachers Act of 2001" urging that they delete the Senate amendment that would remove the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act from the annual appropriations process

• June 19, 2001—Letter to Congressman Earl Blumenauer and others regarding Administration programs on education technology and the E-rate program

• June 14, 2001—Letter to Honorable Betsy Brand regarding high school reform and its place in the President's education agenda

• May 22, 2001—Letter to Congressman Charles Norwood and others regarding efforts to correct long-standing management problems at the Department

• May 17, 2001—Letter to Senator Robert Byrd regarding the Administration's FY2002 budget request relating to school safety, reading, and school modernization

• May 16, 2001—Letter to Congressman Charles Norwood regarding comprehensive blueprint for management excellence at the U.S. Department of Education

• May 15, 2001—Letter to Senator Patty Murray regarding education reform and class size reduction

• May 8, 2001—Letter to Mr. Tom Jennings regarding recently published Department of Education final regulations that revise the scope of employment outcomes under the Vocational Rehabilitation Program

• May 8, 2001—Letter to Dr. Dallas Martin regarding guidance on the applicability of the prohibition on incentive compensation payments under the Higher Education Act

• May 4, 2001—Letter to Governor Jane Dee Hull regarding funding for schools that provide services solely to homeless children

Archives of Key Policy Letters Signed by the Education Secretary or Deputy Secretary From Previous Administrations 1999-2002