Following Senate passage today by 85-12, the Every Student Succeeds Act to fix No Child Left Behind, sponsored by Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.), heads to the president's desk. The House of Representatives approved the bill last week, 359-64.
Alexander said: "The huge bipartisan vote in both the Senate and the House reverses the trend toward a national school board and makes clear that, in the future, the path to higher standards, better teaching and real accountability will be through states, communities and classrooms and not Washington, D.C. Restoring responsibility to states and teachers will, I believe, inaugurate a new era of innovation and excellence in student achievement. The real winners in this remarkable consensus will be 50 million children in 100,000 public schools."
Murray said: "I am thrilled that through our bipartisan work, Congress has finally come together to fix No Child Left Behind in a way that works for students, parents, teachers, and communities in my home state of Washington and across the country. This legislation includes strong federal guardrails to ensure all students have access to a quality education, reduces reliance on high-stakes testing, makes strong investments to improve and expand access to preschool for our youngest learners, and so much more. I'm looking forward to President Obama signing our bipartisan bill into law to help more students get the chance to learn, grow, and thrive in the classroom and beyond."