SECRETARY OF EDUCATION DUNCAN'S STATEMENT ON HOUSE ESEA REAUTHORIZATION BILL H.R. 5

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 
Statement from U.S. Secretary of Education Secretary Duncan on House ESEA Reauthorization Bill H.R. 5

JULY 19, 2013

"America's families, students and teachers deserve an education law that advances progress for all students—especially our most vulnerable children. The bill that the House passed today is not that law. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, better known as No Child Left Behind (NCLB), is 6 years overdue for Congressional reauthorization, and has changed from an instrument of reform to a barrier. I have met and spoken many times with Congressional leaders to try to create a new version of law that would fix NCLB's most burdensome and broken elements. But, in the absence of a workable new law, we have worked together with 39 states and the District of Columbia, and are working with other states, to provide them with flexibility from the one-size-fits-all mandates of NCLB – a process that has unleashed pent-up energy for productive, state and locally designed reforms. I continue to support a strong, bipartisan reauthorization that helps to prepare students for a globally competitive economy. That reauthorization would continue the significant progress states are making in establishing standards that prepare students for college and careers, developing systems to support excellent teaching and leadership in our schools, and creating fairer, flexible, and focused accountability for the learning of all students, including low-income and minority students, students with disabilities, and English language learners.

"The bill passed by the House today does none of those things. It marks a retreat from high standards for all students and would virtually eliminate accountability for the learning of historically underserved students – a huge step backward for efforts to improve academic achievement. It would lock in major cuts to education funding at a time when continued investments in education are the only way we can remain competitive on the world stage. For all of these reasons, I and other senior advisors to the President would recommend that he veto H.R. 5 if it were presented to him."

OVER 2 DOZEN MORE STATES WANT FLEXIBILITY REGARDING NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND

The following excerpt is from the Department of Education website:

“Twenty-six new states and the District of Columbia have formally submitted requests to the U.S. Department of Education for waivers from key provisions of No Child Left Behind. This adds to the 11 states that the Obama Administration announced earlier this month had developed and agreed to implement bold education reforms in exchange for relief from burdensome federal mandates.

The latest 26 states—Arkansas, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin—along with D.C., have all proposed plans to raise standards, improve accountability, and support reforms to improve principal and teacher effectiveness.

Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Tennessee have already received flexibility from NCLB based on their locally designed plans to spur education reform.
"The best ideas to meet the needs of individual students are going to come from the local level. Like the first round of waiver applicants, these plans will protect children, raise the bar and give states the freedom to implement reforms that improve student achievement," said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

If their plans are approved, these 26 states and D.C. will:

Set performance targets based on whether students graduate from high school ready for college and career rather than having to meet NCLB's 2014 deadline based on arbitrary targets for proficiency.
Design locally tailored interventions to help students achieve instead of one-size-fits-all remedies prescribed at the federal level.
Be free to emphasize student growth and progress using multiple measures rather than just test scores.
Have more flexibility in how they spend federal funds to benefit students.

The 27 waiver requests will be posted online along with the names of the peer reviewers who will convene next month to review them. States seeking flexibility in the second round will be notified later this spring. The Department expects additional states to request flexibility by Sept. 6 for the third round of review.

The flexibility was developed with input from state and other education leaders across America under waiver authority granted to the U.S. Department of Education in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. More comprehensive reforms, outlined in President Obama's Blueprint for Reform, await Congressional reauthorization of the ESEA.”