The Huffington Post (10/19, Resmovits) reports that as the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee prepares to begin work on a bill to overhaul No Child Left Behind, "letters and amendments are flying...providing a glimpse into the sausage factory that produces federal policy for America's schools and teachers." The Post notes that despite House Education and the Workforce Chairman John Kline's intention to overhaul NCLB "in a piecemeal fashion," Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander (R) "said Monday he doesn't see any reason why 'Congress can't fix No Child Left Behind and send it to the president before Christmas.'" However, the Post notes that Kansas Sen. Rand Paul (R) "plans to hold up the process with '70-something' amendments. ... 'Our number one amendment will be repeal of the entire No Child Left Behind,' Paul said Tuesday." In an update, the Post notes that NEA advocacy director Kim Anderson and Federal advocacy manager Mary Kusler have written to the committee detailing the union's views on the bill.
Alyson Klein writes at the Education Week (10/19) "Politics K-12" blog that a total of 144 amendments were filed in advance of Wednesday's markup, and "apparently more than half of those amendments-74-are from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who is not a huge fan of the US Department of Education. Paul put out a statement today essentially saying the whole markup process is moving too fast and 800-plus pages is too long for the bill." Klein lists a number of other "amendment to watch," including one from Alexander that "would put the kibosh on" ED's NCLB waiver plan.
WPost Blasts Lack Of Teacher Evaluation Language In Senate NCLB Overhaul. An editorial in the Washington Post (10/19) expresses dismay that the latest revision of the No Child Left Behind reauthorization measure put forth by Senate HELP Chairman Tom Harkin and ranking GOP member Mike Enzi dropped "an important provision on teacher evaluations," suggesting that the change amounts to acquiescing to teacher union pressure and "renders the bill a non-starter." The Post concedes that in its current form, the measure has some "commendable aspects," but says these "can't compensate for the proposal's retreat from accountability provisions, a retreat that rightly came under fire from civil rights and education-reform advocates." The Post adds that the NEA "doesn't like using student achievement to measure teacher effectiveness, which is a bit like measuring race car drivers by everything except how fast they go. So the NEA and GOP forged their alliance, and the provision was dropped."
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