Thursday’s 39-1 conference committee vote approving an outline of the rewrite sets up final votes in the House and Senate early next month.
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Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, said Senate Democrats would try to block such a measure.
“My personal preference would be to take it up and pass it in the Senate and send it to the president”, said Senate Republican Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas).
However, it faces major obstacles towards becoming law. In exchange, the states had to submit federally approved plans to raise student performance.
To the extent practicable, the Secretary [of Transportation] shall encourage the use of durable, resilient, and sustainable materials and practices, including the use of geosynthetic materials and other innovative technologies, in carrying out the activities of the Federal Highway Administration.
The bill would let states decide whether or how to use student test performance to assess teachers and students, ending federal efforts to tie the scores to teacher evaluations, something teachers’ unions have railed against. Senator Reid seemed confident the bill would never make to President Obama’s desk.
And unlike the No Child law, the new bill would not require that all children reach proficiency in reading and math by a certain date.
An amendment from Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado, aimed at reducing over-testing in the nation’s schools.
At a press conference, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he didn’t know anything about the measure.
“Our first and most important job is to keep the American country safe”, Norcross said before the vote. Richards suggested while the federal government has the legal authority to place refugees where it deems appropriate, the goal of integration and assimilation would be piratically impossible without the support of local communities. Among the leading voices is Frederica Wilson (D-Florida), who sees standardized testing and federal sanctions for failure as a bulwark against states ignoring the plight of failing inner city schools, Schaeffer said.
The agreement also creates competitive grants to help states plan, organize and expand preschool programs for low-income children. States are required only to set “challenging” academic standards that will prepare students to enter universities or career and technical colleges.
Democrats had fought against the concept and the compromise bill includes only a pilot program that would allow federal money to move with students in a few school districts.
The passage of the bill, which was backed by newly-elected Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and passed 289-137, was immediately slammed by progressive lawmakers who opposed the measure and rights groups who said the bill represents a gross and reactionary response to recent events in Paris, France.
“The House and Senate are making good progress in resolving differences between their respective multi-year surface transportation reauthorization proposals”, Shuster said.
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As recently as last summer, the House and the Senate remained far apart, with the House passing a conservative version that President Barack Obama promised to veto. “The framework maintains annual assessments and gives states additional flexibility in how to design better accountability systems”.
