House Republicans passed a bill Friday to reduce the federal role in public education and cede back to states decisions about how to deal with failing schools, how and whether to evaluate teachers, and how to spend much of the money sent by Washington to educate poor, disabled and non-English-speaking students.
The bill marks a significant departure from No Child Left Behind, the 2002 law that set federal goals for academic achievement, penalties for schools that fell short of those goals, and prescriptions for steps states must take to improve failing schools.
The GOP bill will return power to the states. It would retain the No Child Left Behind requirements that schools test students annually in math and reading from grades 3 through 8 and once in high school. But states would set their own academic standards, decide whether schools are meeting them and determine what — if anything — to do about underperforming schools.
The GOP bill expressly forbids the Education Department from using waivers or grants to influence state education policy.
Find the full article, here: House GOP passes education bill to reverse No Child Left Behind Lyndsey Layton, The Washington Post, 7/22/13
