On Tuesday, April 7, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) announced that after more than two months of negotiations, they have reached an agreement on a draft bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The draft, titled “The Every Child Achieves Act of 2015,” marks a major step toward reauthorization of the landmark legislation that governs K-12 education nationwide.
Chairman Alexander said in a release that “Senator Murray and I have worked together to produce bipartisan legislation to fix ‘No Child Left Behind.’ Basically, our agreement continues important measurements of the academic progress of students but restores to states, local school districts, teachers, and parents the responsibility for deciding what to do about improving student achievement.”
“This bipartisan compromise is an important step toward fixing the broken No Child Left Behind law. While there is still work to be done, this agreement is a strong step in the right direction that helps students, educators, and schools, gives states and districts more flexibility while maintaining strong federal guardrails, and helps make sure all students get the opportunity to learn, no matter where they live, how they learn, or how much money their parents make.” Murray added.
The legislation marks a major change in stance following Alexander’s original draft bill, which Democrats balked at due to a variety of conservative changes, particularly a controversial provision that would allow for Title I funds provided to low-income students to travel with the individual to other schools. The Obama Administration indicated that it would veto any bill that included the “Title I portability” language, and its removal from the draft bill demonstrates a significant achievement for Murray.
ACTE public policy staff has begun review and analysis on the 600 page bill, and will publish updates on what the legislation means for ACTE members as they become available. To learn more about ACTE’s work on ESEA reauthorization, visit the ESEA page of the Policy Watch Blog and review our priorities here.
Comments