October 20, 2016

The Honorable Roy Blunt
Chair, Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education & Related Agencies
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Tom Cole
Chair, Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education & Related Agencies
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Patty Murray
Ranking Member, Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education & Related Agencies U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Rosa DeLauro
Ranking Member, Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education & Related Agencies U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Senator Blunt, Senator Murray, Representative Cole, and Representative DeLauro:

We are writing to urge you to include $120 million for the Education Innovation and Research (EIR) Grants program (the successor to the Investing in Innovation (i3) Grants program) in any final agreement on the fiscal year 2017 Federal budget.

We believe EIR will drive substantial and lasting improvements in student achievement by supporting the development, validation, and scale-up of successful innovations at the state and local levels. EIR uses a tiered-evidence approach that has two important design principles: it provides more funds to programs with higher levels of evidence, and it requires rigorous and independent evaluations so that programs continue to improve. By prioritizing approaches proven to work, the grants are more likely to achieve greater impact. The requirement to evaluate results provides a basis to improve programs all along the spectrum of effectiveness. In addition, we believe the EIR program has the potential to drive private sector investment in innovations that continue to improve outcomes for students and families.

EIR is especially important given the emphasis of the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) on policies and practices that are informed by evidence. By providing flexible funding for a broad range of field-driven projects and allowing states, school districts, non-profits, and businesses to partner together to develop and grow innovative programs, projects funded by EIR will not only contribute to the production of actionable, proven interventions in a given community or population, but will generate an evidence base that can be adapted to inform practices and funding decisions for states and school districts across the country.

The EIR provision was introduced during the Senate markup of ESSA as a bipartisan amendment by Senators Hatch and Bennett, and it was adopted by voice vote. The provision was modeled after the successful Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program that was created by Congress in 1982, reauthorized and expanded with overwhelming bipartisan support in 1992, 2000, and 2011, and is now funded at over $2 billion per year across 11 federal agencies. EIR would apply the successful SBIR approach in the field of social spending. Moreover, the House Republicans’ Task Force on Poverty, Opportunity, & Upward Mobility’s A Better Way blueprint for reforming social programs, recently released by Speaker Ryan, includes support for tiered evidence programs, of which EIR is an example.

We believe that funding for education innovation is imperative to prepare the next generation to explore the universe, cure diseases, and engineer new solutions to all kinds of challenges and will help states, districts, educators, families, and communities prepare each young person for success in college, career, and citizenship.