NCLB Reauthorization Speculation Continues

There was much speculation on the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) this week. On Monday, June 25, President Bush advocated for a 2007 reauthorization at the Presidential Scholars White House event. He stated his willingness to amend the law, but retained his commitment to accountability. “I know some members and senators have got concerns about the law, and we're more than willing to talk about flexibility. But there is no compromise when it comes to setting high standards and measurement.”

The “concerns about the law” referenced by President Bush are prevalent among Democrats in Congress and, more troubling for the President, among Republicans as well. After losing control of Congress last November, the Republicans are trying to re-define the party by returning to some of their pre-NCLB tenets. That means returning responsibility for education reform back to states, and Representative Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) began that endeavor in March by introducing H.R. 1539, the Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success Act (A-Plus), a bill that allows states to opt out of NCLB and consolidate their federal funding. The bill has secured 60 co-sponsors to date.

This week, the Washington Post made it clear that the “concerns about the law” also extend to former administration officials. On Tuesday, the Post ran an article detailing the lack of support for the current law among former administration officials, with focus on Eugene W. Hickok, a former Deputy Secretary in the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Hickok and other former administration officials said they supported the law when it was first put in place because it targeted the achievement gaps between privileged and disadvantaged students, but that the law is too rigid and the federal role too expansive.

While the week’s NCLB activity made the political tension more public, it did not affect the timeline. Staffers in the House Committee on Education and Labor are still trying to complete a bill to introduce before the end of July. They are meeting frequently on the matter, but it is not clear if they will make that deadline. The Senate education committee staffers have yet to begin work on the reauthorization. They hope to begin at the end of July and produce a bill by the fall, but by then election politics could soil all that urgent work. It is becoming conventional wisdom in Washington that Congressional Republicans have little to gain by supporting an on-time reauthorization. They can either support their unpopular President and the Democratic leadership of the education committees or delay the matter and expose it to the trials of the 2008 election cycle. As the election season approaches, the latter option appears to be growing more appealing to the Republicans.

Resources:
“President Bush Congratulates Presidential Scholars, Discusses No Child Left Behind Reauthorization,” The White House, In Focus, June 25, 2007, http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/education/.
Amit Paley, “Ex-Aides Break with Bush on ‘No Child,’” The Washington Post, June 26, 2007, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/25/AR2007062501897.html.
Author: DAD