Senate Panel Approves ESEA Reauthorization

By Erik W. Robelen

Washington

Republicans on the Senate education committee pushed through proposed changes to the main federal K-12 law last week that would represent a dramatic—and controversial—departure from the government's current approach to helping schools.

Senate Democrats and the Clinton administration were quick to criticize the bill, which the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee approved March 9 on a 10-8 vote along party lines. If adopted as now drafted, the bill would likely draw a presidential veto.

The legislation, which would reauthorize the 35-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act, would allow a limited number of states to consolidate funding under a host of federal programs and use the money for schools as they saw fit. In return for the unprecedented flexibility, those states would have to demonstrate they have improved student achievement overall and narrowed the achievement gap between the...