Dive Brief:

• Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell will call a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the nation's largest education law, to the floor Tuesday.
• The bipartisan rewrite was passed unanimously by the Senate Education Committee three months ago and would eliminate some of the strictures of the bill's last reauthorization, in 2001.
• Insiders expect debate over the bill to last a week or more and say it's likely to be contentious.

Dive Insight:

The last time the law, which governs the country's school accountability and funding mechanisms, was reauthorized was over a decade ago as the Bush-era No Child Left Behind Act. Most states are operating under waivers from the law in its current form, thanks to lag in Congress and the impossibility of meeting the NCLB's requirements. As a result, reauthorization is highly anticipated — and highly charged. Two weeks ago, 10 of the nation's most influential education organizations — a rarely united group that included the two largest teachers unions and the National Association of State Boards of Education — joined forces to demand the reauthorization, and plenty more have also clamored for Congress to pass a new law and end the uncertainty of the waiver system. 

Like NCLB, any law passed will stick around for a while, and those same groups have also fought hard to ensure their interests are met. Last month, a group of civil rights organizations demanded additional protections for historically disadvantaged students, and several senators are poised to ask for amendments related to bullying, background checks, and school choice. The next week or so could prove critical to shaping what the nation's education system will look like moving forward. It could also prove wrong a prevailing sense among insiders that the promised reauthorization may never materialize. After 14 years, it's certainly easy to understand why.