House Lawmakers Push 'No Child' Overhaul Forward
The bill would significantly reduce the federal government's footprint in public education.
Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., who leads the House Education and the Workforce Committee, would not back amendments that added federal programs or costs to the bill.
Big Education Ape: Student Success Act: Corporate Education Reform on Steroids | Education & the Workforce Committee http://bit.ly/1uFiMzf
Big Education Ape: Student Success Act: Corporate Education Reform on Steroids | Education & the Workforce Committee http://bit.ly/1uFiMzf
The House Education and the Workforce Committee has passed a bill to reauthorize the long-outdated No Child Left Behind Act, despite strong objections from Democratic committee members, the Obama administration and dozens of education advocacy groups.
The bill, dubbed the Student Success Act, passed on a party-line vote (21-16) Wednesday night. It would significantly scale back the role of the federal government in overseeing public education, give states more flexibility in designing accountability systems and consolidate dozens of federal education programs. Block grant funding also would allow states to distribute federal money to districts and schools as they see fit. The bill is expected to move to the House floor in less than two weeks.
"The Student Success Act helps provide American families the education system they deserve, not the one Washington wants," Rep. John Kline, the committee's chairman, said in a statement following the vote. "We have a lot of work ahead, and we will continue to move forward in a manner that is open, transparent and fair. America’s parents, teachers and students have waited long enough for a new law that helps every child in every school receive an excellent education."
In the days leading up to the committee markup, Kline, R-Minn., and his GOP colleagues were criticized by Democrats and others who said the chairman failed to include input from stakeholders like teachers, parents and students. The committee sent the bill, nearly identical to one the House passed in July 2013, to the House floor without holding any hearings, which Kline said would be unnecessary because the bill is so similar to the previous version and the committee heard from experts the last time around.
But Democrats on the committee said the refusal was a sign Kline wasn't willing to work in a bipartisan manner. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., said 37 percent of the current committee members – some of whom are new and others of whom were absent for hearings in 2013 – never had the opportunity to contribute to the bill.
The tension was also evident during Wednesday's markup session as Republican committee members blocked every amendment offered by a Democrat, based only on whether the amendment would create a new program or cost additional money.
Oregon Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, for example, introduced a bill to reduce testing (the SMART Act) as an amendment, and the proposal had garnered bipartisan support.
"I struggle to understand how this can be opposed," Rep. Susan Davis, D-Calif, said before the vote on the amendment.
But Kline said that while he supported the idea behind the amendment, he couldn't back the proposal because it called for additional funding, and the amendment was withdrawn. Likewise, amendments to include funding for high-quality early childhood education – a topic popular among both Democrats and Republicans – and to establish dropout prevention programs failed to pass.
Another amendment from Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., would have established federal protections against the bullying and harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, but was ruled not germane.
Democratic members repeatedly said during the daylong hearing that they would have liked to see more collaboration between members, and that areas for compromise were possibly missed.
"I am extremely disappointed that this ill-advised legislation was approved and would have preferred the chairman work with Democrats to bring about a bipartisan bill that truly serves the students of this country," Rep. Alma Adams, D-N.C., said in a statement. "As a new member of the committee I felt completely left out of this rushed process and believe we owe it to the American people to have thoughtful [dialogues] about such overarching policies."
In the end, the only approved amendments came from four Republican members: Reps. Steve Russellof Oklahoma, Joe Heck of Nevada, Dave Brat of Virginia and Carlos Curbelo of Florida.
The Russell amendment strengthens student and teacher data privacy provisions; the Heck No Child Left Behind Rewrite Heads to House Floor Despite Democrats' Objections - US News:
