After 10 months of negotiations, a key U.S. Senate committee has set a date to take up a bill reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
Few details have been released about the legislation so far, but the bill to be considered by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on Oct. 18 will be comprehensive, unlike the approach taken in the U.S. House of Representatives. U.S. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the education chairman there, has broken the reauthorization up into smaller pieces, some of which have already passed out of committee. He is expected to deal with the bigger issues of accountability and teacher quality this fall.
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, the Senate committee chairman, said the bill would take “important steps to advance the state, local, and federal partnership that is needed to improve educational equity and ensure all students graduate from high school prepared for success in college and careers.”
The Obama administration, meanwhile, has announced plans to give states more flexibility under NCLB.
