Programs Panel Approves Bill Killing 'Duplicative' Education Programs

Bill marks first step in piecemeal ESEA renewal bid

The House education committee has taken a first step toward piecemeal reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act by voting to slash more than 40 narrowly targeted programs from the U.S. Department of Education.

The measure, which was approved May 25 on a party-line vote of 23-16, would get rid of programs that the Republican majority sees as duplicative or not representing the right role for the federal government. The bill is the first in what is expected to be a series of modest, tightly focused bills the committee leadership says it will consider instead of a broader measure to reauthorize the ESEA, whose current version is the 9-year-old No Child Left Behind Act.

The programs that would be eliminated include a number of high-profile literacy initiatives that lost their funding in the fiscal year 2011 budget, including Striving Readers, the Even Start Family Literacy program, and Literacy Through School Libraries. ( "Congress Wraps Up 2011 Budget," ...