Earlier this week, the House passed the Every Student Succeeds Act . This legislation takes an important step towards improving education across the country and is an example of what can be done when both sides put politics aside and comes together on an important issue. Like any compromise, neither side got everything they wanted but we were able to address a number of critical issues. This is not a perfect bill, but it is an important one that will improve life in classrooms across the nation for our children and their teachers.

This bill empowers educators and reduces the fixation on test results while ensuring that there are proper assessment tools and federal oversight to hold failing schools accountable. So teachers can focus on creating enriching lesson plans instead of teaching to a test.

It also includes important provisions that address the ‘school-to-prison pipeline’ by increasing data collection on the use of suspensions, expulsions, school-related arrests, and referrals of students to law enforcement. By focusing attention on the overuse of discipline that removes children from school, as well as providing funding for schools to support teachers and implement effective, evidence-based discipline practices we can address behavioral issues while keeping our students in a learning environment. These are important steps towards keeping our children in school instead of jail.

While this bill is important, we still have work to do to make our education system the best that it can be. I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress and our local education community to make sure that we continue to fix the remaining problems in our education system and provide all our children with the high-quality education they deserve.