Friday, November 12, 2010

In The News: Can K-12 Dodge Congressional Gridlock?

By Alyson Klein

“Now that Republicans have taken control of the U.S. House of Representatives and bolstered their minority in the U.S. Senate, it remains to be seen if education is one area of federal policy that can avoid the partisan stalemate that many observers predict will paralyze Washington for the next two years."

"Republicans and Democrats famously came together to pass the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. That law, the latest version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, placed new accountability demands on schools and authorized more federal spending on education. Its renewal has been pending since 2007.”

 “A strengthened Republican presence in Congress is likely, meanwhile, to have its own ideas for rewriting the ESEA. Those are almost certain to include a move toward less federal involvement in education policy--nearly every Republican campaigned on greater local control in education.”

“It seems certain that the new, Republican-controlled House will reject major new education spending. In a “Pledge to America” outlining their governance plan that was released in September, House GOP leaders said they would like to return federal spending to fiscal 2008 levels, before Congress approved the Troubled Asset Relief Program, a rescue package for the financial sector, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the economic-stimulus bill.”

View the entire article here.

Posted at 8:15 AM Keywords: Congress , ESEA , Elementary and Secondary Education Act , No Child Left Behind , Elections , Legistlation 0 Comments