What Democrats Lost In Bipartisan No Child Left Behind Rewrite, And What They Won
The Every Child Achieves Act, the Senate’s bipartisan fix to No Child Left Behind, passed Thursday with 81 voting for and 17 against. Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) voted against the reauthorization. The rest were Republicans including Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) Steve Daines (R-MT), Mike Lee (R-UT), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Tim Scott (R-SC) and Jerry Moran (R-KS).
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) led the bipartisan effort. The overwhelming majority that voted in favor of the bill was unusual compared to the usual partisan gridlock, but as with most bipartisan legislation, no one is 100 percent pleased with the legislation. Democrats may have lost more than Republicans, as several of the key amendments pushed by Murray and Democratic leadership did not pass.
Although every senator and advocacy group has a different opinion on what qualified as a win, there were a few amendments that signified Democratic priorities, such as bullying of LGBT students, keeping track of disadvantaged students’ progress and teaching students about climate change.
What Democrats Lost
Accountability Amendment
One of the losses Democrats are sorest over is their accountability amendment, which the Obama administration hoped would be included in the final legislation. The National Education Association opposed the legislation, as it stated the accountability measures were too close to No Child Left Behind and would punish schools rather than offer support. Alexander read the NEA’s statement on the Senate floor Wednesday in support of a no vote.
Booker, who offered the amendment along with Warren and Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), said, “I cannot in good conscience support a bill that falls short of investing in the potential and promise of all of our children, especially New Jersey’s most vulnerable students.”
The amendment that would have required to states to intervene in schools where subgroups of students, such as students of color, low-income students and English-language learners, had achievement gaps.
Several civil rights groups, urged a no vote on the legislation after the amendment failed to pass, such as The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law.
“In years past, ignoring these students or segregating them was a moral stain on our nation and that remains true. But today, it is also a recipe for economic disaster. We have been hopeful that there was a path forward toward redeeming the ESEA so that it could live up to its legacy as a civil rights law intended to equal the playing field for vulnerable students but that hope did not materialize yesterday when the senate voted down accountability,” said Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights in a conference call before the legislation’s passage.
Universal Pre-K Amendment
The universal pre-K amendment offered by Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) also did not pass. It was one of the last few opportunities Democrats had to include one of their top amendments in the legislation. Alexander had previously voiced his concern about how the amendment would be paid for. The amendment required $30 billion to be distributed through block grant funding, which What Democrats Lost In Bipartisan No Child Left Behind Rewrite, And What They Won | ThinkProgress:
