Inside the beltway pessimistic about reauthorization
(District of Columbia) Despite signs of growing bipartisan support for legislation reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, 52 percent of Washington’s education stakeholder community says it won’t happen while President Barack Obama is in office.
In an unscientific survey of between 50 and 75 Washington, D.C. education insiders, Whiteboard Advisors also found that Congress is likely to approve a proposal from the administration this year to restrict commercial use of student data.
Whiteboard Advisors, a nationally recognized capital consulting group, includes as part of its pool of participants White House and administration officials along with congressional staffers, state education representatives and leaders of key private education associations, think tanks and other influential groups.
The poll results come as members of the U.S. Senate Education Committee approved without dissent last week an initial set of amendments to the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015, jointly authored by Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash.
As currently drafted, the bill would make a number of changes to the nation’s primary public education law, including elimination of the requirement that K-12 schools meet Annual Yearly Progress benchmarks.
Also not included in the bill – which might raise some opposition from the Obama administration – is any mention of teacher evaluations.
Although there are a number of issues that could sidetrack the legislation, many in and around the Capitol are giving Alexander and Murray high marks for herding the diverse membership of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions – a panel that includes GOP firebrandRand Paul and polarizing Democrats Al Franken and Elizabeth Warren.
The bill now moves to the Senate floor.
The Whiteboard survey, which is published monthly, found 54 percent of respondents believed a student data privacy bill will be enacted under Obama’s watch.
The president’s student data legislation – dubbed the Student Digital Privacy Act – would prohibit companies from selling student data to third parties, which might use the information for targeted advertising.
A version of the proposal had been expected from Rep. Jared Polis, D-CO, and Rep. Luke Messer R-IN, but so far that has not happened.
The poll found most policy insiders believe that the Common Core State Standards are here to stay, with 61 percent giving high marks to the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness and 65 percent saying the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium is “on the right track.”
Although there are efforts to repeal the Common Core in 19 states, the Whiteboard survey found 70 percent of respondents believe that at least 20 states will continue to use the testing systems of one of the two consortia.
Whiteboard published a number of comments in connection to the ESEA poll question that reflected a wide range of opinions. Here is a sample:
- “I think Obama and (U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan) will be starved for a late term accomplishment, which could lead them to nudge a Democratic coalition to join more moderate Republicans around a proposal that Alexander and (House Education Committee chair John Kline, R-Minn.) put together.”
- “Just hard to see how both Houses can come together in a time when compromise is a dirty word.”
- “Alexander is showing how to lead and Murray is a good partner for him. They'll get major things done.”
- “The difficulty is getting a bill that Congress will approve that the Administration will sign into law.”Inside the beltway pessimistic about reauthorization :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet: