Federal K-12 Footprint at Core of ESEA Hearing

Congressional lawmakers in charge of overseeing the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act are deeply divided on the right role for the federal government in K-12 education, a split on display at Thursday's hearing on a pair of bills before the House Education and the Workforce Committee.

The measures, introduced Feb. 9 by the committee's chairman, U.S. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., would significantly scale back the federal role in overseeing K-12 policy, leaving nearly all accountability decisions up to the states. They have yet to garner Democrat support.

Schools would still test students in reading and math in grades 3-8 and once in high school, but the bills would get rid of the adequate yearly progress provision at the center of the law and allow states to craft their own accountability systems. States would be able to come up with their own improvement strategies and decide which schools to turn around. And states wouldn't have to offer free tutoring or school choice for students in...