NCLB reauthorization: Bills introduced, but little action
Published: July 3, 2013
More than five years after the federal No Child Left Behind Act expired—and less than a year before NCLB could label virtually every public school in the country a failure—three proposals to reauthorize the controversial law, also known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, surfaced in Congress last month.
- Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, patterned his “Strengthening America’s Schools Act” largely on the Obama administration’s NCLB waiver program.
- Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, the ranking Republican on the Senate HELP Committee, and the panel’s other Republicans countered with the “Every Child Ready for College or Career Act” to lower the federal profile in education issues.
- Rep. John Kline and Rep. and Todd Rokita, introduced the Student Success Act with goals similar to Alexander’s. Kline, R-Indiana, chairs the House Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee, and Rokita, R-Minnesota, chairs the House Education and the Workforce Committee.
The Senate HELP Committee held a hearing on the two Senate measures, passing Harkin’s measure to the floor and holding the Alexander’s measure. Rokita’s committee heard his and Kline’s bill, and it is now in the House Financial Services Committee. It remains to be seen whether any proposal can overcome the partisan gridlock that has gripped the nation’s capital. At press time, none of the bills had attracted any bipartisan support.
Review the status of federal education issues in the Legislative Advocacy section of the CSBA website: www.csba.org/Advocacy.