The new Republican majority in Congress plans to tackle education reform, but the process is exposing rifts within the party about how far it should go to untether local public schools from federal control.
Republican divisions were evident last week, when House lawmakers began debating the Success Act, a bill that would revamp the unpopular No Child Left Behind Act, in part by giving local school districts more autonomy over how to spend federal education dollars.
Democrats universally opposed the bill, saying it would rob federal funds from the poorest schools and reallocate them to wealthier neighborhoods, while reducing accountability requirements.
Democrats said provisions allowing federal dollars to follow students rather than tying money to schools would open the door to a school voucher program, which they staunchly oppose.
But conservatives also balked at the legislation. They complained it did not go far enough to extinguish the No Child act, which was signed into law in 2002 by President George W. Bush but has been universally unpopular, particularly with the Republican right.
The act was meant to completely reform the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education law, which sends billions in federal dollars to local school districts under the Title I program. The No Child act broadened the federal government’s role in education, increasing funding and adding accountability measures by requiring standardized testing and benchmarks for teachers.
Republicans came to dislike the federal control, while 43 states and the District of Columbia have received waivers to escape federal punishment for not meeting education standards.
The House bill debated last week would scale back federal control, but not nearly enough for conservatives, with many of them committed to reducing what they believe is a pattern of federal intrusion into state and local autonomy.
“I just have a philosophical opposition and a constitutional opposition to No Child Left Behind,” Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kansas, told the Washington Examiner. “Take it all out. Get rid of No Child Left Behind. It’s not the role of the federal government.”
Huelskamp and other conservatives acknowledged positive aspects of the legislation, which would reduce testing requirements and funding restrictions and would add protection for homeschoolers and private schools.
But, Huelskamp said, “This is not good enough.”
Conservative groups lobbied against the GOP measure.
“The bill represents a missed opportunity to show a clear contrast with the progressives’ failed big-government education agenda because it does not take the necessary steps to genuinely limit federal intervention in education,” said Dan Holler, spokesman for the conservative Heritage Action for America.
House Republican leaders looked to appease conservative concerns with the bill and allowed lawmakers to debate dozens of amendments to the legislation. But GOP leaders excluded three key provisions conservatives were seeking.
The first, authored by Reps. Mark Walker, R-N.C., and Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., would have allowed states to opt out of the federal program.
Republican leaders also rejected an amendment by DeSantis and Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., that would have eliminated federal testing mandates. And Republican leaders would not permit debate on an amendment that would have allowed students who qualify for federal education dollars to use the money for private school tuition.
The bill is expected to head to the Senate next week — minus conservative support.
Despite Republican control of the Senate gavel, the House bill has little chance of passing in its current form.
Senate Education Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., is working on his own revision to No Child Left Behind, and it’s likely to move even further away from what conservatives were hoping for.
Unlike the House, where the bill was written without Democratic input, Senate lawmakers are hammering out a bipartisan agreement.
A Senate working draft on how to reform the No Child act, for example, includes two options for state testing. One would allow flexibility for states to opt out, while a second option would leave in place current federal testing requirements.
“We can’t turn our backs on measuring student progress,” Murray said at a recent Senate hearing on reforming the No Child program.
“I would be concerned with any attempt to eliminate student assessments.”
Aides to Alexander, who favors local school autonomy, said he is working closely with the top Democrat on the Education panel, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., on legislation that can pass the Senate with support from both parties.
“Staff are having very productive conversations and working hard to get a result that Alexander and Murray can present to their colleagues,” Alexander’s spokeswoman, Margaret Atkinson, told the Examiner.
