A bill to reform the much-despised No Child Left Behind act is coming to the House floor this week, and could pass this time around with the help of two amendments aimed at untethering the federal government from local education.
The Student Success Act has already seen floor action this year. Lawmakers debated the measure in February, but GOP leaders ended up postponing a vote on the bill when it because clear their sizable conservative flank would sink it.
The bill would reform the unpopular No Child program signed into law in 2002 by President George W. Bush with changes aimed at giving more control to the local school systems. But conservatives said it did not go far enough to end federal interference and oversight of public schools, and they withheld their support.
This time around, Republican leaders will consider holding votes on amendments that conservatives said could convince them to vote for the bill. The House Rules Committee will meet Tuesday to reconsider a number of amendments conservatives proposed in February but which were rejected by the panel. “They may make a new order,” of amendments, a GOP aide told the Washington Examiner.
It’s a sign that Republicans need to win over their conservative wing to pass the bill.
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As written, the legislation has drawn nothing but criticism from House Democrats, who say spending flexibility provisions in the bill would rob federal funds from the poorest schools and reallocate them to wealthier neighborhoods, while reducing accountability requirements.
But this Democratic opposition has given conservatives leverage.
The amendment atop their wish list is the A-Plus Act, which would allow states to “opt out” of federal education programs altogether and use federal dollars on other school spending priorities.
Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., said when he introduced it earlier this year that this amendment “enables states the flexibility to completely opt out and dictate how to best utilize federal education funding.”
A second amendment, sponsored by Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., would allow parents to “opt out” their children from mandated testing without states being penalized for lower participation.
Several conservatives who were opposed to the Student Success Act in February said they would consider supporting the legislation if the A-Plus amendment is attached. But even if the GOP leadership permits a vote on the provision, there is no guarantee it would pass.
So far, there are dozens or GOP supporters but far short of the 217 votes needed to pass the amendment.
Republican leaders may be banking that conservatives will support the bill in exchange for a chance to pass the amendment, even if it fails, but that is not sitting well with conservative groups. “We will remain opposed … if A-plus doesn’t pass,” Heritage Action for America spokesman Dan Holler said.
The House debate will take place as the senators begin consideration of their own No Child reform legislation as early as Tuesday.
The Senate bill, however, is far less conservative than even the House legislation without the A-Plus and “opt out” amendments.
Authored by Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., the Every Child Achieves Act is a bipartisan agreement that aims to strengthen state and local control over public schools. But it lacks some of the conservative provisions in the House bill, including elimination of some federal testing requirements and a provision allowing Title I funding to follow students to public charter schools.
“The consensus that Senator Murray and I, along with the entire Senate education committee, have found is this,” Alexander said. “Continue the law’s important measurements of academic progress of students but restore to states, school districts, classroom teachers and parents the responsibility for deciding what to do about improving student achievement.”
