text: J.Ohinata, the amount of federal funds through ESSA is a drop in the bucket when compared with the size of state funding and other sources of funds for education.  Every state has to decide whether it's worth complying with ESSA requirements in order to receive ESSA funds.  In retrospect, complying with the No Child Left Behind requirements wasn't worth the NCLB funding.  ESSA continues the heavy emphasis on standards and the assessments of NCLB.