Congress on the Verge of Passing Legislation to Replace No Child Left Behind

Employee Relations, Jobs, Skills and Training

In a rare bipartisan effort, Congress is on the verge of passing bicameral legislation that will redefine the federal and state relationship in the nation's K-12 education system and replace the much maligned No Child Left Behind law.  The Every Student Succeeds Act (S. 1177) passed the House this week with a wide bipartisan majority vote of 359 to 64 and now goes to the Senate where passage is expected.  The bill's key provisions include:

• Returning responsibility for accountability and school improvement to state and local leaders;
• Providing school districts more funding flexibility and replacing 49 federal education programs;
• Allowing states to opt-out of Common Core standards and prohibiting the federal government from taking any action against a state that does so;
• Protecting the right of states to opt-out of federal education programs;
• Providing eligible school districts the ability to have federal, state, and local funds follow students to the schools they attend; and
• Repealing mandates on teacher quality.

Critics of the legislation say it will not do enough to protect students stuck in low performing schools and will relieve much of the pressure on school districts to improve under-performing schools.