Roby "State Authority" Provision Goes to President's Desk

Press Release

A bill provision introduced and championed by U.S. Representative Martha Roby (R-AL) to stop federal coercion in state education decisions is on its way to the president's desk as part of a rewrite of the nation's "No Child Left Behind" education law.

The bill, the Every Student Succeeds Act, passed the Senate on Wednesday. It scraps "No Child Left Behind" and replaces it with a new law that returns education decision-making back to states and local school boards.

The Roby "state authority" provisions strictly prohibit the federal government from using funding grants and rule waivers to coerce states into adopting its preferred standards or curricula, including Common Core. Roby has worked for two-and-half-years to build support for the provisions after U.S. Department of Education coercion on state policy became pervasive.

"The federal government has overstepped its bounds in education policy and it's past time to rein it in," Roby said.

"Our "state authority' provisions will prevent undue influence by the federal government by taking away the Department of Education's ability to attach curriculum and assessment policy strings to special grants and waivers. Local and state leaders are best positioned to determine policies that affect Alabama's students because they have direct interaction with parents and teachers in their communities. Washington bureaucrats are not.

"I have fought for two-and-a-half years to build support for ending the federal government's coercive practices in education, and I could not be more pleased that this language is headed to the president's desk. I hope President Obama will hear the outcry from parents, teachers and administrators throughout this country who are fed up with federal intrusion and sign this bill into law."

In May 2013, Roby introduced the "Defending State Authority Over Education Act," a standalone bill that sought to end the federal coercion on education policy that has tied the hands of state and local educators. She said at the time the true goal was having the language included in a rewrite of "No Child Left Behind," which Congress has been working on for years.

This year the House and Senate passed different versions of a plan to replace "No Child Left Behind," which led the chambers to iron out the differences in a Conference Committee. The final version of the bill reported by the Conference Committee preserved Roby's strong "State Authority" language, and both chambers have now approved that final bill.

The Every Student Succeeds Act would replace the nation's current law with policies that reflect a more conservative, state-driven approach to education. Specifically, the bill:

Places new, unprecedented restrictions on the U.S. Secretary of Education, including the Roby "State Authority" language prohibiting the Secretary and his agents from using money and rule waivers to coerce policy decisions;

Eliminates the "Adequate Yearly Progress," or "AYP" metric and returns the responsibility for proficiency systems to the states where they belong;

Phases in student mobility via a pilot program allowing Title 1 money to "follow the student" to the school of the parent's choice, a provision that Roby believes should be built upon and expanded in the future;
Supports the start-up, replication and expansion of high-quality public charter schools, which Alabama can now access to support its recently-enacted charter school program.

Roby said she would prefer the bill go much further in severing ties between federal and state governments in education, and voted to support amendments doing just that. However, the bill as it stands presents a can't-miss opportunity to reduce the federal footprint in education.

Local education leaders and statewide advocates have signaled strong support of the "No Child Left Behind" replacement bill.

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