Open Mike - June 18-19, 2011

Rep. Lynn WoolseyCongresswoman (D-Calif.) :

(Interview with POLITICO's Aleesa Mann)

I doubt the [deadline] is feasible. The committee has begun moving forward their plan, but the Republican plan is to break the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) into smaller bills for reauthorization – the committee has already approved cutting over 40 programs in the Department of Education.

I don’t think we’re going to make it happen before that because we’ve got too much to do. There’s so much involved in reauthorizing ESEA. It’s 10 years old and it was underfunded and punitive. We have to undo that and keep the parts that work, which was identifying and addressing the achievement gaps between groups. But, that’s going to take a major effort.

My priorities for the reauthorization have not changed. When the bill is rewritten it needs to be fairer, it needs to be flexible and it needs to be fully funded.

Source: http://www.politico.com/arena/perm/Rep__Lynn_Woolsey_F2CDDCF6-A193-41BE-BB37-D3A930AD7EAF.html