Washington Digest: Senate votes to update education law
WASHINGTON - The Senate voted last week to update the No Child Left Behind Act, approving the first major changes in federal education law in 15 years.
Senators voted 81-17 for the Every Child Achieves Act after several weeks of debate on almost 80 amendments. It will be negotiated with an education bill the House passed earlier this month.
The Senate-passed measure would prohibit the federal government from setting performance targets or requiring specific standards such as the Common Core curriculum. It would make states responsible for establishing systems of accountability, including how much weight should be put on testing to determine whether schools are succeeding.
Supporters said the bill would shift power away from Washington and back to states and communities in decisions on how to educate their children.
Critics said it does not go far enough to hold schools accountable or ensure that minorities and low-income students are getting a quality education.
Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Dean Heller, R-Nev., voted for the bill.
Among amendments debated was one that would have created a grant program to develop school materials and teacher training on climate change science.
"We must ensure that we provide the best science training available for this next generation -- the green generation," said sponsor Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. "They are going to have to confront this problem."
Speaking against the amendment, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said it "gets the federal government involved in creating a curriculum for climate change in your local high schools and other schools."
"Based upon what we know about the U.S. Department of Education, as soon as we authorize this, it will begin to write regulations defining what we mean by climate change, and we would have to change textbooks in 100,000 public schools every time we have a presidential election," said Alexander, chairman of the Senate‘s education committee.
The Markey amendment was defeated, 44-53. Reid voted for it while Heller voted against it.
Short-term highway fix advances
The House voted 312-119 to extend federal highway spending another five months while lawmakers continue to search for ways to pay for a longer-term fix to the troubled transportation program.
Critics complained the House was just kicking the can down the road once again with the $8 billion extension that will carry through Dec. 18. States have been agitating for long-term solutions so they can pursue road building and repairs with assurance of federal funding.
Supporters of the House short-term fix said quick action was needed before the highway fund runs out of money later this summer. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he was hopeful Congress can pass a tax reform bill that will provide billions of dollars needed to pay for a multiyear extension.
But details of such a tax bill have been slow to form. Meanwhile Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has floated a combination of other ideas including selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to pay for a patch as long as three years.
Reps. Dina Titus, D-Nev., and Cresent Hardy, R-Nev., voted for the bill. Reps. Joe Heck and Mark Amodei, both R-Nev., voted against it.
Contact Review-Journal Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@reviewjournal.com or 202-783-1760. Find him on Twitter: @STetreaultDC.
