Congressional Approval of the NCLB Re-Authorization: Taking the Bitter with the Sweet.....

The House of Representatives passed the latest iteration of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act on Thursday, via a 359-64 vote.  Interestingly, every "no" vote came from Republicans.

From Breitbart:

"One of the Republicans who voted against the ESSA, [Tim Huleskamp] said “the new, longer replacement for No Child Left Behind…continues the massive federal overreach into America’s classrooms and homes, denying kids and their parents, teachers, schools, and states control over their own schools.”“The legislation does not repeal all too many of the onerous regulations, mandates, and days of testing that America’s moms, dads and teachers detest,” he continued. “After fourteen years of NCLB, and billions of dollars in new spending, there has been no detectable improvement to education in America"

I have huge issues with the way the Federal Government intrudes in local school district decision-making, so I'm ambivalent about this bill's passage.

Because Liberal groups are leading the cheers for this bill, and because President Obama has signaled his intention to sign the bill once it clears the Senate next week--I am very leery.

The compromise bill is 1,061 pages long, so how many congressmen really read it?

I'm glad the Common Core issue is addressed and put to bed with this law's passage--this is a good thing.

But I also worry that this law doubles down on huge expenditures on early educational programs that do not produce results that last.

I worry because this law still keeps Washington DC bureaucrats and the DOE too heavily involved in local schools.

All in all, there is just a sense of blah as I read about this law, now renamed Every Student Succeeds Act.  Some bitter, some sweet, but mostly blah...