Alexander: House-Passed Bill Fixing No Child Left Behind is "a Kissing Cousin" of Bill Supported by All 10 Senate Education Committee Republicans
Says Senate should approve legislation like House bill and end trend toward a "national school board"
WASHINGTON, July 19—The senior Republican on the U.S. Senate education committee today said the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act passed by the House of Representatives is a “kissing cousin” of the bill supported by all 10 Republicans on the Senate education committee, and urged the Senate to approve legislation like the House bill and end the trend toward “a national school board.”
Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said: “The combination of Congress’s failure to act on No Child Left Behind, together with Race to the Top and the Education Secretary's unprecedented use of the waiver authority have combined to create a congestion of federal mandates and rules that amount to, in effect, a national school board. It will be better for children to move responsibility for deciding which schools and teachers are succeeding or failing back to parents, teachers and communities, which is where such decisions belong."
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