Dive Summary:
- In the weekly Republican address Saturday, Senator Lamar Alexander--the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee's top Republican--said that, aside from student loans, the GOP and the White House have "major" disagreements on the country's education policy.
- Alexander, who also served as President George H.W. Bush's education secretary, slamming what he called a "congestion of mandates" from Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind as a Democratic power grab that sets common standards on teacher and student performance instead of favoring local control.
- A reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was recently passed by Democrats on the Senate HELP committee, but Republicans have proposed an alternative bill called "Every Child Ready for College or Career" that encourages state and local control of education policy, as well as the expansion of successful charter schools.
From the article:
... "It puts Washington out of the business of deciding whether local schools are succeeding or failing," he explained. "It rejects the federal mandates that create a national school board, and prohibits the Education Secretary from prescribing standards or accountability systems for states. It continues the requirement that states have high standards and quality tests, but doesn't prescribe those standards." ...
