Lawmakers Team to Target Red Tape

Two lawmakers with plenty of experience and expertise on K-12 issues—U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Michael Bennet, D-Colo.—have teamed up to introduce a bill that seeks to make better sense of the maze of federal and state K-12 regulations and the intersection between the two.

State and federal regulations often crisscross in strange and nonsensical ways, the senators said on a recent conference call with reporters. For districts and schools, that might mean spending time on testing and compliance, not on teaching...