Casey: Education Bill a Significant Step Forward

WASHINGTON, DC— U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) last night joined a bipartisan group of Senators in voting for the first comprehensive bill in a decade to overhaul the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), commonly known as No Child Left Behind.

“There is no question more work needs to be done but this is a significant step towards fixing some of the major problems with No Child Left Behind,” said Senator Casey. “I am pleased that members of the committee worked together to put our differences aside and do what is best for children and the future of our country.”

The bill was passed out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee in a bipartisan vote of 15 to 7 and now heads to the full Senate for consideration.

Senator Casey’s amendment, which passed by voice vote, will support state efforts to improve instruction in the arts, foreign languages, history, civics, economics, financial literacy, health education, environmental education, physical education, and social studies.  Pennsylvania and other states would be eligible to apply to the Secretary of Education for funding to boost these subjects and provide professional development to teachers.

The ESEA bill also includes a provision from Casey’s Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA) that requires school districts receiving designated funding to implement student conduct policies prohibiting bullying and harassment.  Senator Casey was deeply disappointed that the policies in the bill’s Successful, Safe and Healthy Students program do not include protections for bullying based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation, gender identify, or religion.  He will continue to work with SSIA's bipartisan supporters of the Safe Schools Improvement Act to see enumerated protections added to ESEA when it comes to the Senate floor.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization Act will:

Fix the one-size-fits-all approach created by the No Child Left Behind Act.

• Eliminate policies like the “adequate yearly progress” requirements and mandated federal sanctions for all schools that create pressure to “teach to the test.”
• Support state-designed accountability systems consistent with principles supported by the Council of Chief State School Officers.
• Make schools accountable to the communities they serve by ensuring that all parents, families, and community members have access to disaggregated information about how effectively their schools are educating all students.

Help ensure that every student graduates from high school ready for college and a career.

• Support states as they develop and implement college and career ready academic standards with high-quality assessments that will help make our young people the most skilled citizens in the world.
• Fix America’s dropout factories, the 12 percent of high schools that produce 50 percent of our dropouts.
• Foster collaboration between early childhood programs and school systems to ensure that children start school ready to succeed.

Support great teachers and principals and ensure that all children receive the best instruction.

• Help ensure there are great teachers and principals in every school through improved support and evaluation systems.
• Recruit and prepare teachers for high-need subjects like math and science.
• Help more schools provide a well-rounded education with time for the arts and physical activity.
• Support student success by promoting safe and healthy schools.
• Prepare more teachers to teach the diverse learners in America’s schools including students with disabilities and English learners.

Focus the federal government’s role on the things it does best while giving states and communities the flexibility they need to address the unique needs of their students and schools.

• Direct federal resources to turn around chronically struggling schools and those with significant achievement gaps and allow states to take student progress into consideration while rating schools.
• Promote smooth transition and alignment from early learning to K-12 to higher education and across federal education programs.
• Consolidate and streamline programs in the current law and eliminate those that are duplicative or unnecessary.

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