Clock Ticking on Senate Bill to Overhaul NCLB

Legislation may be derailed by competing priorities

Leaders of the Senate education committee still aim to push a bipartisan revision of the much-criticized No Child Left Behind Act through Congress by year’s end, in time to stave off the Obama administration’s move to offer states waivers of parts of the nearly decade-old law.

That appears to be a tall order, given the short and crowded legislative calendar, polarized political climate, and lack of consensus within the K-12 community on issues—such as accountability and teacher quality—at the heart of the law, the current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

The next stop for the bill, sponsored by U.S. Sens. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Michael B. Enzi, R-Wyo., is a hearing Nov. 8 before the Senate Health, Education,...