Senate Passes ESEA

Posted on July 16, 2015July 17, 2015

Today, the Senate finished its debate and votes on amendments to S. 1177, the Every Child Achieves Act, a bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). In total, of the 79 amendments that were voted on, 66 were adopted and 13 failed.

The Senate has passed a bipartisan overhaul of the long-expired No Child Left Behind education law by a vote of 81-17.

The bill would continue to require annual testing in reading and math but restores power over low-performing schools back to states.

The partisan House-passed version, which passed earlier this month, goes to an extreme that Democrats and the White House have condemned. The most contentious point of the House version is that it would allow federal dollars to follow students to another public school of their choice.

To devise a version that can become law, lawmakers will have to satisfy White House concerns about the bill’s protections for poor and minority students and House GOP demands that the bill diminish the federal role in education.

House Pulls FY16 Interior Bill

Posted on July 9, 2015July 9, 2015

The House has pulled their FY16 Interior Appropriations bill amid controversy of a Confederate flag amendment. The House has previously considered and passed three amendments restricting funding for federal lands displaying the Confederate flag. Due to Republican concerns these restrictions might impose, an additional amendment was proposed to allow funding on federally owned park land displaying the Confederate flag. The crux of the issue: Civil War battle fields, the bulk of which are now federal park land and have memorials and cemeteries headstones with the flag on them. The bill did not have the votes to pass the House without the new amendment that allowed display of the Confederate flag on federal lands in some instances. Further, it was unclear that the bill had the votes to pass if the amendment was not included.

The bill was first considered but not finished before the July 4th Recess. It is unclear how the bill will or can move forward.

House Passes ESEA

Posted on July 8, 2015July 9, 2015

This evening, the House further considered and passed HR 5, the Student Success Act, which reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The House voted on ten amendments for which recorded votes were already requested in February 2015 and considered four new amendments, as well as a Democratic motion to recommit. The bill passed by a narrow vote of 218-213. No Democrats voted for the measure. The legislation would make fundamental changes to many of its programs through fiscal 2019. Additionally, it would allow Title I funding to follow individual students to other schools, and eliminates more than 65 elementary and secondary education programs and merges their funding. The White House has threatened to veto the bill.

The Senate has been and will continue to debate their version of ESEA (S 1177, Every Child Achieves Act of 2015) for the remainder of the week. The White House has issued a Statement of Administrative policy on S 1177, requesting changes to the testing cap, but not a veto threat.

House and Senate Consider Elementary Education Proposals

Posted on July 7, 2015

Dueling education proposals are up in the House and the Senate this week. Eight years after No Child Left Behind (NCLB) officially expired, congressional leaders want to pass a rewrite of the main federal K-12 education law (ESEA) that can get President Obama’s signature. Today, the Senate will begin consideration of S 1177, Every Child Achieves Act of 2015, which reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The bill passed the Senate education committee in April by a unanimous vote. The Senate is expected to start debate on the bill this afternoon.

Also today, the House Committee on Rules will meet to consider HR 5, Student Success Act, which is the House bill to reauthorize ESEA. In late February, the House postponed consideration of HR 5 after 43 amendments were debated. Floor consideration will likely resume on Wednesday or Thursday this week under a new rule allowing additional amendments to be made in order.

The bill being considered in the House would transfer far more power away from the federal government than the Senate bill, which passed unanimously out of the HELP committee after bipartisan negotiations between Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and ranking member Patty Murray (D-WA). Both bills explicitly prohibit the Education secretary from influencing state academic standards.

As Congress debates education this week, Republicans will try to highlight how far to the right they have moved on the issue since NCLB first passed. Even though the law significantly expanded the federal government’s role, only six Republican senators opposed it in 2001. Keep in mind that, running for president just five years before the law was approved, then-Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole supported eliminating the Department of Education altogether. However, President George W. Bush pulled his party along with him by pushing for passage of NCLB.

While it is unclear which bill will become law, it seems certain that any legislation that emerges from Congress would dramatically curtail the federal government’s involvement in state standards.

Additionally, it is a very telling, and productive sign, that both the House and Senate can each consider a bill considered such a political hot-potato and essentially a nonstarter last year.

Fourth of July Recess

Posted on June 29, 2015

Both the House and Senate are in using the Fourth of July as a district work period. Congress will return Monday, July 6th to continue working on the FY16 Appropriations process!

Happy Fourth of July!