With Congress looking to rewrite the federal role in K-12 education, Democrats should strongly consider compromising with Republicans to get reform passed now. Otherwise, a more conservative alternative will likely get passed in the future.

Passing an education reform bill now would likely put the federal education issue to bed until Democrats are able to regain more power in the legislative branch. Although the federal education law, originally the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, was reauthorized every few years at first, reauthorizations are less frequent now. No Child Left Behind should have been reauthorized in 2007, but more than 13 years after it took effect, the law has yet to be reauthorized.