President Obama on Thursday signed the first education reform bill passed by Congress in more than a decade, and admitted his surprise that anything supported by both parties could be passed anymore.
“After more than 10 years, members of Congress from both parties have come together to revise our national education law,” he said at the White House. “A Christmas miracle: A bipartisan bill signing right here.”
“I love it when we’re signing bipartisan bills,” he said. “Today, I’m proud to sign a law that’s going to make sure that every student is prepared to succeed in the 21st century.”
The update of federal education law aims to reduce federal control over standardized testing and reform at low-performing schools. It also tries to neutralize Common Core standards, which have drawn sharp opposition around the country, but stopping the federal government from providing incentives to adopt them.
It also repeals dozens of programs deemed either ineffective or duplicative, includes provisions to protect homeschoolers and charter schools, and provides “flexibility grants” for local schools to decide how to spend money on programs.
Obama highlighted the reduced testing requirements in the bill as an achievement.
“It didn’t always consider the specific needs of each community,” he said. “It led to too much testing during classroom time.”
