My Report on House and Senate July 08, 2015, ESEA Actions
This week, both the House and the Senate are promoting their respective versions of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965.
A bit of info regarding what transpired July 08, 2015:
On July 08, 2015, the House passed its version, the Student Success Act (HR 5) by a slim margin: 218-213. Only Republicans voted for it. President Obama has said in the past he would veto the bill over such issues as the House version’s “per-student basis” Title I funding and its budget caps that do not account for either inflation or enrollment increases.
For a play-by-play record of House legislative activities regarding HR 5, click here and use the calendar feature to view July 08, 2015.
A couple of interesting issues related to HR 5 amendments: First, an opt-out amendment was approved (Rep. Salmon, AZ). Under this amendment, students whose parents opt them out of state testing are not counted against the state participation rate. The Senate ESEA reauthorization version also has an opt-out amendment that was approved in committee, but the Senate opt-out is worded such as to tell states that whether states allow opting out or not, don’t blame the federal government (i.e., don’t say that ESEA requires students to test).
Another interesting House issue related to HR 5 is one that was sponsored by Rep. Polis (CO) and later withdrawn. Polis’ amendment wanted “to require states to have college- and career-ready standards and set performance, growth, and graduation rate targets for all student subgroups. The amendment also includes performance targets for English language learners and students with disabilities.” Even though the pro-testing civil rights groups might have supported this one, the amendment was withdrawn “by unanimous consent.” Too much of a “federal overreach” feel for Republicans, I assume.
(The actual texts of the Salmon and Polis amendments can be found here. Whereas the Salmon amendment is only a couple of lines long, the Polis amendment is several pages of text.)
But the pendulum was also not allowed to swing too far in the other, relaxed direction: A proposed amendment by Rep. Walker (NC), called the A PLUS Act, would have My Report on House and Senate July 08, 2015, ESEA Actions | deutsch29:
Schneider is a southern Louisiana native, career teacher, trained researcher, and author of the ed reform whistle blower, A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who In the Implosion of American Public Education.
She also has a second book, Common Core Dilemma: Who Owns Our Schools?, newly published on June 12, 2015.
