Rep. Trott Supports Effort to Improve Education in Southeast Michigan

Press Release

U.S. Representative Dave Trott (MI-11) today voted in support of legislation to improve public education in Southeast Michigan by reducing federal mandates, restoring local control, and empowering parents and education leaders to hold schools accountable for effectively teaching students.

"Our kids in Southeast Michigan deserve the best possible education--and that starts by giving control back to our local communities and school districts. What I have been hearing from school administrators, teachers, and parents is that we need to empower local school districts to decide how best to educate our kids, not Washington bureaucrats. This bill doesn't fix every problem, but it makes important steps toward ending the top-down, Washington-knows-best approach that has failed to improve America's education system," said Rep. Trott.

The legislation, known as the Every Child Succeeds Act, replaces the No Child Left Behind education initiative and reduces the federal government's involvement in America's K-12 schools. The legislation will:

Return responsibility for accountability and school improvement to state and local leaders by eliminating the federal accountability system, known as "Adequate Yearly Progress" or AYP.

Reduce the influence of Washington and help school leaders better address local priorities by repealing 49 federal programs.

Protect the rights of states and school districts to determine what standards are best for their students by prohibiting any agent of the federal government from mandating, promoting, or incentivizing a particular set of standards such as Common Core.

Provide states and schools new funding flexibility. The agreement establishes a block grant with existing federal dollars that states and school districts can use to fund priorities set at the local level.

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