8/9/2019 5 Reasons Why Sen. Alexanders Draft Education Bill Fails Parents

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1 Center for American Progress | 5 Reasons Why Sen. Alexanders Draft Education Bill Fails Parents

5 Reasons Why Sen. Alexanders

Draft Education Bill Fails ParentsFebruary 2, 2015

Earlier his monh, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-N) proposed a bill o reauhorize he

Elemenary and Secondary Educaion Ac, or ESEA.1Te ESEA is seven years overdue

or reauhorizaion. Te process presens an opporuniy o improve U.S. school sysems

and empower parens wih beter inormaion abou heir childrens progress and he

success o schools in heir communiy. Unorunaely, Sen. Alexanders proposal ailso seize his opporuniy. Insead, i proposes o reduce paren access o reliable and

valid inormaion and devolves mos decisions abou school qualiy o saes, which

hisorically have no aken acion o address deficiencies in school sysems. Here are five

reasons Sen. Alexanders bill ails parens:

1. Lowers academic standards: oday, all saes have academic sandards ha are

aligned o career and college readiness. Sen. Alexander proposes o lower ha bar

by allowing saes o esablish sandards aligned o he enrance requiremens o any

college wihin heir bordersregardless o is rigorwihou ederal oversigh or

approval. Tis proposal would allow saes o esablish sandards ha are no chal-lenging. Parens deserve o have confidence ha he academic sandards o which

heir children are augh are meaningul, high bars or wha kids need o know o

succeed in lie.

2. Prevents parents from making informed decisions about where to send their

children to school: In order or parens o know wheher heir children are on rack

o graduae rom high school ready or college or career, hey need access o objec-

ive annual inormaion abou how hey are progressing. Sen. Alexanders bill offers

an opion whereby saes would have complee flexibiliy when i comes o deciding

when and how o measure suden progress. His bill also eliminaes he requiremen

ha saes use he same assessmens or all sudens. Wihou equivalen daa across

school disrics, parens would be unable o compare school perormance and make

inormed choices abou where o send heir children.

8/9/2019 5 Reasons Why Sen. Alexanders Draft Education Bill Fails Parents

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2 Center for American Progress | 5 Reasons Why Sen. Alexanders Draft Education Bill Fails Parents

3. Allows low-performing schools to languish:Sen. Alexanders bill essenially elimi-

naes accounabiliy or low-perorming schools. In place o he sysem ha is cur-

renly in place, saes could design and implemen almos any sysem hey wan wih

no ederal checks or guardrails. As a consequence, millions o parens would be suck

sending heir children o a persisenly low-perorming school wih no real hope or

inervenion or improvemen.

4. Eliminates federal funding for before- and after-school programs: Sen. Alexanders

bill removes he unding sream or 21s Cenury Communiy Learning Ceners, he

primary source o ederal spending on beore- and afer-school programming.2As a

resul, i disrics choose o shif heir prioriies, parens will be lef wihou wih a

sae, enriching place o send heir children beore and afer school.

5. Fails to provide parents with protection from substantial school budget cuts:

Sen. Alexanders bill eliminaes he ESEAs curren mainenance o effor provi-

sion, which ensures ha disrics ha receive ile I undingdesigned o help

low-income and disadvanaged sudensmainain approximaely he same spend-ing levels rom year o year. Wihou his provision, saes would have ree rein o cu

heir educaion budges. As a resul, children would ace larger class sizes and under-

resourced schools.

Endnotes

1 Every Child Ready for College or Career Act of 2015, forthcom-ing, 114 Cong. 1 sess., available athttp://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/AEG15033.pdf.

2 U.S. Department of Education, 21st Century Commu-nity Learning Centers, available at http://www2.ed.gov/programs/21stcclc/index.html(last accessed January 2015).

http://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/AEG15033.pdfhttp://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/AEG15033.pdfhttp://www2.ed.gov/programs/21stcclc/index.htmlhttp://www2.ed.gov/programs/21stcclc/index.htmlhttp://www2.ed.gov/programs/21stcclc/index.htmlhttp://www2.ed.gov/programs/21stcclc/index.htmlhttp://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/AEG15033.pdfhttp://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/AEG15033.pdf