House Republican leaders could face a showdown with their conservative faction this month when they attempt to revive the controversial Student Success Act, a bill that would rewrite the unpopular No Child Left Behind education law.
Republican leaders were forced to pull the Success Act from the floor in February because it lacked support. The bill had riled the conservative community and far right GOP lawmakers, who said it did not go far enough to untether local schools from creeping federal government control involving testing, curriculum and funding.
Conservative House lawmakers are insisting that if the bill comes up again, it must include significant changes before they’ll get behind it.
But GOP leaders tell the Washington Examiner there are no plans to alter the bill at all. Instead, they plan to put the legislation back on the House floor exactly where it left off, with the clock expired on debate time and only the votes on the measure still pending.
Rather than changing the bill, Republicans are trying to convince opposing conservatives that the bill reduces federal control and restores state and local autonomy.
“I think the votes are pretty close,” Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., who is chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, told the Examiner. “Members have just learned more. They are much better educated.”
But many of the lawmakers who made it impossible to pass the bill in February haven’t changed their minds.
“I’ll vote against it,” Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., a former science and math teacher, told the Examiner. “There are too many tests. We have testing galore. Teachers are teaching to the test.”
Conservatives are likely to insist at the very least on an amendment that would let states opt out federal education programs, including the No Child Left Behind Act, a Bush-era program that ties funding to federally required testing and penalizes poorly performing schools.
The APLUS amendment, as it has been named, would also allow state and local officials to determine where to spend federal education money.
“I would like the opportunity to offer the APLUS amendment,” Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C., told the Examiner. “If it’s the exact same bill as before, with no opportunity for amendments, I’m still a no.”
Opposition on Capitol Hill is driven by local communities, whose anti-Washington sentiment is fueled in part by the relatively new Common Core State Standards Initiative. Common Core is not run by the Department of Education, but includes federally designed testing for students in English and math and a federal incentive to enroll by allowing states to opt out of the unpopular No Child Left Behind law.
“It’s become an emotional issue with voters, ” Rep. John Fleming, R-La., said. “People have somehow linked the idea in their heads that any education control out of Washington is a bad idea. We’ve been burned many times.”
