Sen. Alexander, R-Tenn., speaks at a roundtable hearing of the Senate Committee on Education, Health, Labor and Pensions on Tuesday. Next to him is a stack of applications and waivers from Tennessee to the federal government. Photo by Preston Michelson/MNS
WASHINGTON — Sen. Lamar Alexander called for the federal government Tuesday to encourage — but not mandate — educational innovation as it updates the “No Child Left Behind” law.
“I hope we are not far from a conclusion from moving from hearings and discussions to marking up a bill,” said Alexander, R-Tenn., at a roundtable hearing of the Senate Committee on Education, Health, Labor and Pensions, which he chairs.
“No Child Left Behind” was passed in 2002 and has been up for reauthorization – that is, an update and rewrite — since 2007. Alexander plans to get a bill to the Senate floor by late this month.
This was the 27th hearing in the last six years for the law which gives the federal government a role in efforts to improve educational accountability, in part through standardized testing.
“We have so much riding on these tests,” said Susan Kessler, executive principal at Hunters Lane High School in Nashville, Tennessee, and a witness at the hearing. “Because of [that], it discourages innovation.”
Kessler also said that she believed testing should remain a part of “No Child Left Behind,” but only as part of a larger number of assessments.
“If, for some reason, there is federal money for a program we don’t need, we lose out,” said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., a committee member. “I think federal funding is fine, as long as it comes with flexibility.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., noted the improvements that have come from the law, and said he was worried about the lack of accountability of Alexander’s reauthorization proposal.
“I think this is all about, at the midpoint, where we’re going too far in terms of prescriptive funding,” Murphy said. “But there are a lot of things playing out that are not so good.”
Alexander brought with him the application from Tennessee for Title I funding from the federal government, as well as waiver forms, as proof of the lengthiness of the documents. Forty-two states, the District of Colombia and Puerto Rico are operating under waivers.
The U.S. Department of Education spends about $10 billion on some 90 different programs under the purview of “No Child Left Behind” — in addition to general funding. Alexander proposed removing some of the programs to give states more flexibility to innovate.
“Are we spending this money in a way that makes it easier or harder for you to innovate and achieve better academic outcomes?” he said.
