Ed-Flex Program Provides Four States with Greater Flexibility to Implement Education Reforms
January 31, 2020
As Linda Jacobson reports for Education Dive, four states—Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas, and Vermont—have been approved for the Education Flexibility Program, or Ed-Flex. “The program is intended to give states with ‘strong accountability safeguards’ the freedom to implement initiatives or reforms that might conflict with ESSA.” Ed-Flex grants waivers from certain federal education regulations, following a practice that was also implemented under both the Bush and Obama administrations. According to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy Devos, the program is part of the DOE’s commitment to “shifting control over education decisions” back to “state and local education leaders who know what’s best for their students and communities.”