ESEA

U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos may have lost another opportunity to show education policy watchers from her own party that she understands what they have been fighting against with the Common Core standards for the past decade.

Establishment Washington Republicans could not say enough this past week about how the 1,061-page Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reduces the federal government’s role in education and that it eliminates the fed’s coercion of states to stick with the unpopular Common Core standards. Perhaps most significant to these Republicans is that the bill was a self-proclaimed model of “bipartisanship.”

Flanked by Senate education committee chairman Sen. Lamar Alexander and ranking member Sen. Patty Murray, President Barack Obama signed into law on Thursday the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the latest version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) that was enacted in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

The U.S. Senate approved the conference legislation known as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), a measure that – once signed into law by President Obama – will replace the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) federal law and will serve as the latest iteration of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

During floor speeches, Republican lawmakers claimed the bill “reduces the federal role” in education – even though it extends federal oversight of education to formally include pre-school instead of only grades K-12. They also say the measure would stop the federal government from coercing states to implement the Common Core standards – a point that is hotly debated by conservative activists who say the bill actually cements the Common Core further.

Sen. Lamar Alexander’s final draft of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reauthorization bill is a 1,059-page piece of legislation that House and Senate education committees decided upon after several months of backroom deals and only two days of open “conference.”

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reauthorization bill was approved by a conference committee – by a vote of 39-1 – after just several hours of “conference.” But the bill will not be published in final form for lawmakers and parents to read until November 30 – just two days before it is voted on in the House on December 2. As Indiana parent Indiana parent Erin Tuttle says, “House members will be forced to vote on a bill they haven’t read. The American people expected a new style of leadership under Speaker Ryan, not more of the same.”

Many in the GOP reportedly refrained from voting until the last minute and some changed their votes under pressure from Republican leadership. Only one conservative amendment, introduced by Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) was adopted, by a vote of 251-178, that would allow parents to opt their children out of standardized testing.

The House’s version of the redo, known as the Student Success Act (H.R. 5), was pulled from the House floor by GOP leadership in late February after it was determined the measure lacked sufficient support. Grassroots parents’ groups – many that have been fighting against the Common Core standards in their states – voiced their concerns that the Student Success Act still required excessive federal intrusion into the right of states to set their own education policies.

Sen. Lamar Alexander’s (R-TN) rewritten draft legislation that would reauthorize No Child Left Behind (NCLB) will likely not allow Title I dollars for low-income children to follow them to schools of their choice, an outcome that would be a win for the Obama administration.

Jeb Bush is trying again to explain his position on education reform to conservatives.

When Congress reauthorizes No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the law should allow states to “align” education with the needs of businesses in order to bolster workforce development, according to The National Governors Association (NGA).

Will the Republican-controlled Congress renew the Elementary and Secondary Education Act’s (ESEA) and permanently lock states into federal control of education?