Will federal education policy be taking a turn back towards the states? As Congress sets out to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (most recently known as No Child Left Behind), both the House and the Senate have produced bills that will greatly limit the role of the U.S. Department of Education, giving states more latitude on a wide variety of policies including how to improve schools. This will shift more responsibility to our State Board and Commissioner and allow them the freedom to do more or less to make sure all of our kids are accelerating their learning.
As the bills go to a bipartisan committee to be sorted out, we hope that legislators don’t go too far in dismantling a universal expectation of achievement for all of our public schools. While we believe that education policy should be targeted to meet local needs, we also deeply believe in protecting every child’s right to a quality education everywhere- and a federal role in making sure our public investments are improving student outcomes. It is critical that the federal and state authorities not walk away from the objective of improving our most challenged schools and districts. We need more support and pressure to improve, not fewer resources and less urgency.
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