Last week’s Congressional wrangling over Homeland Security funding temporarily ended House debates in Washington on the GOP’s version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known as No Child Left Behind.
Republicans would take away much of the federal government’s authority over how states and local school districts spend federal education dollars. Some conservative critics say the bill doesn't go far enough in scaling back the federal role in education.
Democratic Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro spoke out last week against the GOP version of the bill.
"The bill allows states to direct federal dollars away from schools and districts with the greatest poverty," DeLauro said. "It permits states to reduce education funding with no accountability. It allows schools in wealthier neighborhoods to use Title I funding, without having to target funds to the students with the greatest need. It is a blatant betrayal of the ESEA?s fundamental purpose, which is to level the playing field for low-income kids?."
President Obama said he applauds efforts to fix some of the problems of No Child Left Behind, which, according to a White House statement, creates "?dozens of ways for schools to fail but provided very few supports to help them succeed."
However, the statement goes on to say that ?the House bill under consideration "...marks a retreat from high standards for all students and would virtually eliminate accountability for the learning of historically underserved students, a huge step backward for efforts to improve academic achievement.?"
