Alyson Klein just called in from this morning’s subcommittee markup of the fiscal 2009 appropriations bill for the education, labor, and health and human service departments. Here’s what she reports:
It doesn’t sound as if The plan to suspend NCLB accountability is included in the appropriations bill. Sources tell me that Rep. Dave Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the Appropriations Committee, nixed the bill after Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., voiced his objections to it. You can read what the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee told Alyson in her post from yesterday.
The debate over the idea of suspending accountability isn’t dead, though. BoardBuzz is asking for readers to contact their members’ offices, while Swift & Changable says that additional civil rights groups are voicing opposition.
On another note, the subcommittee’s bill would eliminate all funding for the Reading First program. Rep. Obey’s statement on the program’s evaluation gave a hint that this was coming.
