USDE reinstates Oklahoma's flexibility waiver from No Child Left Behind

Dear superintendents and principals, 

The Oklahoma State Department just received notice from the U.S. Department of Education that Oklahoma’s flexibility waiver under No Child Left Behind has been reinstatedfor the 2014-2015 School term.

As you know, USDE was impressed with the work of our school turnaround office and our other accountability reforms in place under our original waiver. With the repeal of Common Core State Standards and the inability to immediately prove that Oklahoma’s Priority Academic Student Skills (PASS) standards were college- and career-ready, the USDE originally denied our waiver extension request in August.

This would have meant increased federal restrictions of Title I funds and loss of relief from 13 federal regulations.

With the Regents for Higher Education determining in October that PASS standards are sufficient, combined with our school turnaround work, USDE reinstated our waiver. We’re grateful for what this means for Oklahoma schools. Our offices of Federal Programs and School Turnaround will be available to answer any questions and to work with you in the coming months as you continue school improvement work under the guidelines of the waiver.

We are currently reviewing recently released guidelines for the application for the renewal of the waiver for the 2015-2016 year and beyond. We will advise you as soon as information is available.