Outlines Emerging for ESEA

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., is one of a group of lawmakers working on reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. He discussed the future of the law during a forum at George Washington University last week.

—Andrew Councill for Education Week

Flexibility, federal role among leading issues

By Alyson Klein

Four months after President Barack Obama made education a centerpiece of his State of the Union address, lawmakers charged with reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act are beginning to sketch out their own visions for aspects of the law’s renewal.

The prospects that Congress will meet the president’s goal—a comprehensive, bipartisan reauthorization by the start of the next school year—remain cloudy, however.

Bipartisan talks continue in the Senate, but lawmakers are still puzzling over issues at the heart of the ESEA, including just what the federal role in school improvement and accountability should be. The current version of the law, the 9-year-old No Child Left Behind Act, greatly expanded Washington’s role in holding schools accountable for...