Editorial: The Problem with the Education Bill
The problem is that, now, every state will be able to decide how to interpret and use the results of their tests and determine which schools are not yielding results and what to do with them
SPANISH VERSION
Approved 14 years ago, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) education law had good intentions, as it sought to help students with special needs. However, in practice it became an ill-funded program entailing tedious federal intervention that imposed numerous demands and penalties. The new education law approved by the Senate on Thursday goes in the opposite direction, excessively reducing the federal government role and jeopardizing the education of ESL students, the poor and minorities.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), established in 1965, has been a powerful tool to defend the goal of giving all students the resources and support to attain academic success regardless of their race, ethnicity or financial status.
In 2001, ESEA was reauthorized under the NCLB name to great expectations that did not work in the real world. After years of discussion, Congress seems to have come to enough of an agreement to approve the Every Child Achieves Act (ECAA), a lighter version of NCLB.
The new project comes as a response to the inconveniences created by NCLB with its multiple tests and federal demands, including a nonetheless praiseworthy effort to get all students to their appropriate reading level. ECAA will give the states once again the power to establish accountability systems, eliminating yearly assessment methods and allowing them to fix their own academic standards. In a victory for conservatives, the new law would also make Common Core standards optional.
The problem is that, now, every state will be able to decide how to interpret and use the results of their tests and determine which schools are not yielding results and what to do with them. This defeats ESEA’s purpose, which is to allocate funding where it is most needed. The federal government’s historic role in protecting minorities against discrimination is uprooted by the approval of this law.
It is imperative that this protection is brought to the negotiating table between the House of Representatives and the Senate. The aim of this education law should not be to take the federal government out of the equation by changing NCLB, but to reaffirm ESEA by guaranteeing the protection of every student’s right to a fair education.
