Alexander Thanks Governors for “Leading Charge to Fix No Child Left Behind”

“There’s no doubt, as the Wall Street Journal said, that this is the ‘largest devolution of federal control to the states in a quarter-century.’ There also is no doubt that a law is not worth the paper it’s printed on unless it’s implemented properly.”

WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 — The chairman of the U.S. Senate education committee today thanked the nations’ governors for their role in fixing No Child Left Behind, saying they “led the charge” in passing a new law governing elementary and secondary education and asked them now to “lead the charge to implement the law the way Congress wrote it.”

At today’s meeting of the National Governors Association (NGA), U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), a former chairman of the governors’ organization,  said, “There’s no doubt, as the Wall Street Journal said, that this is the ‘largest devolution of federal control to the states in a quarter-century.’ There also is no doubt that a law is not worth the paper it’s printed on unless it’s implemented properly.”

Alexander said that a unique coalition of national organizations—including governors, teachers, parents, superintendents, chief state school officers and principals—had formed to make certain the law transfers responsibilities for schools and children from Washington, D.C., into the hands of those closest to them. He urged the governors to form a similar coalition in each state to help implement the law. “The left and the right,” he said, “became fed up with Washington telling those closest to the children so much about what to do in our 100,000 public schools. Everybody wanted the law fixed and we found a consensus to fix it.” He complimented Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, the senior Democrat on the education committee, for her bi-partisan leadership.

“It is not every day that the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers and the nation's governors agree on such important education policy,” Sen. Alexander said. “I urge you to take advantage of this, state by state, while you can.  Maybe it will help to put education on the front burner and politics on the back burner in our schools.”

Alexander predicted that “placing accountability where it belongs—in the hands of states, parents and classroom teachers—would inaugurate a new era of innovation and student achievement in our nation’s 100,000 public schools.”

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