The House of Representatives voted to overhaul the increasingly controversial No Child Left Behind education law Wednesday, aiming to give less control over education to the federal government and more control to state and local school districts.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., is a response to growing concerns over high-stakes testing nationwide. The overhaul of No Child Left Behind would replace some federal programs with local block grants and has been widely supported by Republicans despite the threat of veto from the White House.
The bill passed by an extremely narrow 218-213 vote, with no Democrats supporting the legislation. Two Republican reps from Florida -- Ted Yoho and Curt Clawson -- voted against the legislation.
Republicans proposed several amendments to the bill, but only one of them, which would allow parents to exempt their students from standardized testing, made its way to the final version of the bill.
Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., who sponsored the amendment, explained parents were growing frustrated with intense and constant testing requirements.
“When it comes to educating our future generation, Washington has once again proven it can’t get the job done,” he said in a statement.
One Florida representative, Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., introduced an amendment which would have allowed states to opt out of No Child Left Behind but still receive federal funding. But DeSantis’ amendment flopped when some Republicans sided with Democrats to send the amendment to its death.
No Child Left Behind was originally signed into law in 2002 under former President George W. Bush. The law mandated standardized testing in reading and mathematics for students in grades 3 to 8 as well as high school. The law expired in 2007 and has since not been renewed, with critics calling it too high-stakes and accusing the testing of putting too much pressure on students and teachers.
The Senate debated a similar measure to reform the law Tuesday. Under the Senate’s proposal, the federal government would not be allowed to set educational standards. States would also gain more control over the testing process, deciding how to use standardized tests to assess student achievement.
Some Florida education groups weren’t too happy over the newly passed legislation.
The Florida Stop Common Core Coalition, a group vehemently opposed to the Common Core State Standards, was dissatisfied with the bill, saying even though the legislation was better than the Senate’s original proposal, the bill was still bad news.
“This bill will cement Common Core for another 7-15 years under the name of College & Career Readiness, continue the federal testing mandates and hurt the opt-out movement,” the group wrote on its Facebook page.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan voiced disapproval of the bill Wednesday.
"House Republicans have chosen to take a bad bill and make it even worse," said Duncan in a statement. "Instead of supporting the schools and educators that need it most, this bill shifts resources away from them."
