Why I voted Yes on S. 1177, the Conference Report to Accompany the Every Student Succeeds Act
I voted “Yes” on S. 1177, the Conference Report to Accompany the Every Student Succeeds Act.
This legislation replaces the “No Child Left Behind” elementary and secondary education law and makes key reforms to federal education policy that will maximize flexibility for states and local school districts. The Every Student Succeeds Act eliminates the federal Academic Yearly Progress (AYP) standards for schools and allows states to adopt their own accountability systems that must include long-term education goals and regular measurements of academic progress. It also eliminates the “Highly Qualified Teacher” provision from current law, which has allowed the Department of Education to unilaterally determine state teacher qualification.
I believe strongly in standards – if the United States is to compete globally in an increasingly competitive marketplace, our students must be educated to the highest level. However, as the recent failed experiment with Common Core has demonstrated, standards must not lead to the development of rigid curriculums that stifle classroom innovation. For this reason, I am pleased that this bill prohibits the federal government from mandating a one-size-fits-all set of standards and allows states to opt out of Common Core with no financial penalty. It continues the requirement that states regularly test their students but allows states to independently develop rigorous assessments, standards, and accountability metrics. To ensure that state standards are comprehensive, the bill requires that they be challenging, clearly documented, and aligned with college admissions standards.
I am especially pleased that this legislation includes for the first time a provision directly related to early preschool education, which is an issue I strongly support in Congress. The bill authorizes the Preschool Development Program to provide competitive grants to states in order to assess the availability and quality of existing preschool programs. The evidence is clear that investing in our children from birth to age five reaps social and economic dividends long into the future and I am pleased that this provision was included in the final bill. This is a strong education bill and I am pleased to support it.
This legislation was passed by a bipartisan vote of 359 - 64.