The Obama administration’s temporary, conditional waiver scheme has masked the harsh reality of America’s current K-12 education landscape: No Child Left Behind remains the law of the land. In other words: Virtually all schools are considered failing under the law’s one-size-fits-all, high-stakes accountability system, known as ‘Adequate Yearly Progress,’ and are required to adopt federally prescr... Read more »
State education leaders recently gathered in Washington to send an urgent message: America’s K-12 education system is broken, and only a new law can fix it. They’re talking about the need for Congress to replaceNo Child Left Behind (NCLB) through the legislative process. That is precisely what House Republicans have been working on for years. Unfortunately, these efforts have been undercut by the ... Read more »
On Tuesday, the president vetoed a bicameral resolution that would have blocked the National Labor Relation Board’s ambush election rule. By vetoing the measure, the president has signed off on a radical regulatory scheme that will: Restrict the right of employers to speak to employees during a union organizing campaign; Undermine the right of employees to make an informed decision in union electi... Read more »
Separation of powers. States’ rights. Local control. These are just a few fundamental principles the Obama administration has ignored when it comes to K-12 education, and it’s time for Congress to do something about it. It began in 2009 with a multibillion dollar slush fund known as “Race to the Top.” Created in the Democrats’ failed stimulus law, the program empowered the secretary of education ... Read more »
Members of Congress have an important opportunity to protect fundamental rights enjoyed by America’s workers and job creators. That’s the crux of a resolution the House is set to vote on later today that would block a radical rewrite of long-standing policies governing union elections. Under a scheme concocted by President Obama’s National Labor Relations Board, a union election could occur in as ... Read more »
Dear Secretary Perez: The recently enacted Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) made several important reforms to the Job Corps program in an effort to ensure that program participants, some of our nation’s most disadvantaged youth, receive high quality education, workforce development, and support services in order to become more employable, responsible, and productive citizens. In cr... Read more »
THE PROBLEM In December 2014, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) finalized a new rule that dramatically alters long-standing policies governing union elections. The board’s ambush election rule arbitrarily limits the ability of employers to legally prepare for union elections, delays answers to important questions – like voter eligibility – until after the election, gives workers as little... Read more »
The Student Success Act (H.R. 5) is a conservative proposal to replace a flawed education law and stop the administration from governing K-12 schools through executive fiat. While many have expressed support for the legislation, calling it “the most conservative federal education move in a quarter century,” and “a promising bill ... that deserves the enthusiastic support of conservatives,” the Da... Read more »
Dear Secretary Perez: President Obama recently directed the Department of Labor (DOL) to move forward with a repackaged rulemaking to expand fiduciary liability. DOL's initial attempt to regulate in this area in 2010 was roundly criticized by stakeholders and by lawmakers on a bipartisan basis and subsequently withdrawn. We continue to have strong reservations about any policy that could reduce a... Read more »
Support continues to grow for the Student Success Act (H.R. 5), a proposal the House is currently considering to replace No Child Left Behind. As education stakeholders and conservative leaders reaffirm, the Student Success Act dramatically reduces the federal footprint in the nation’s classrooms and returns responsibility for effectively educating students to parents, teachers, and state and loca... Read more »
