June 11, 2013
In Today’s Senate HELP Committee Mark-Up:
Democrats Want States and Schools Accountable for Student Achievement;
Republicans Say Aim for Student Success Not Required
Two very different visions of public education will be competing today at the Senate HELP Committee’s mark-up of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Both Democrats and Republicans will formally present their plans to revise current law to give states a lot more flexibility than they have under ESEA. But the two plans differ drastically in their emphasis on state and local accountability for the quality of education they provide to students.
“The Senate Democratic bill sends the message that students in our public education system have a right to an excellent education that prepares them for college and careers,” said DFER Policy Director Charles Barone. “The Republican bill, on the other hand, seems to suggest that state officials, educators, and administrators have the right to deny students that very same opportunity.”
“This is no longer an argument about how high our expectations for students should be,” Barone added. “This is an argument about whether we should have any expectations at all. Republicans are saying that expectations for improving student achievement should be optional on the part of states, districts, and schools.”
No one thinks the new ESEA law should be as rigid as the No Child Left Behind Act. But in attempting to provide greater flexibility, the Senate Republicans have overshot the mark by miles. And in giving in to those in the education establishment for whom education reform recently has made life difficult, Senate Republicans have weakened the potential influence of parents and state and local advocates who have used federal law to leverage unprecedented changes in their school systems.
The bill offered by Senate Democrats also has serious shortcomings. While it would require states to set annual goals for student achievement and propel interventions in persistently low-performing schools, it contains a lot of options as to what the criteria for success look like that could, in the end, allow states and school districts to make student performance appear better than it really is.
Even so, Democrats for Education Reform applauds the leadership of Senator Harkin and the other HELP Committee Democrats in taking on the substantial task of authoring such legislation and for pushing back on political pressures to adopt the types of quality-blind changes contained in the Republicans bill. We look forward to working closely with Senator Harkin, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and the entire United States Congress to improve this legislation–hopefully, after debate, on a bipartisan basis–as it continues through the legislative process.