Press Releases

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce, chaired by Rep. John Kline (R-MN), today approved two pieces of legislation to rewrite elementary and secondary education law. The Student Success Act (H.R. 3989) was approved by the committee in a vote of 23 to 16. The Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act (H.R. 3990) was approved in a vote of 23 to 16.

“With these proposals, we aim to shrink federal intrusion in classrooms and return responsibility for student success to states and school districts. We’ll untie the hands of state and local leaders who are clamoring for the opportunity to change the status quo and revive innovation in our classrooms. And we will free states and school districts to provide every child access to the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed,” Chairman Kline said.

“The policies in these bills weren’t drawn up behind closed doors in Washington. They come from the ideas, accomplishments, and creativity of superintendents, school chiefs, principals, and parents around the country. These proposals have been written with the input of these leaders, who work with our children every day, and reflect our shared goal of providing all children access to a quality education,” Chairman Kline continued. “I am pleased the committee took another step closer to lifting the burden of an ineffective law by approving the Student Success Act and the Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act.”

The Student Success Act will:

• Replace the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) metric with state-determined accountability systems;
• Eliminate federally mandated interventions and allow states and school districts the flexibility to develop and implement appropriate school improvement strategies;
• Repeal federal “Highly Qualified Teacher” mandates;
• Allow states and school districts to use federal funds across programs to address their own unique needs; and
• Maintain the requirement that states and school districts issue and distribute annual report cards, including disaggregated data on student achievement and high school graduation rates, while also streamlining data reporting to ensure meaningful information is easily available to parents and communities.

Read more about the Student Success Act…

The Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act will:

• Require states and school districts to develop teacher evaluation systems that measure an educator’s influence on student learning;
• Support opportunities for parents to enroll their children in local magnet schools and charter schools; and
• Consolidate a myriad of existing K-12 education programs into a new Local Academic Flexible Grant, which provides funding to states and school districts to support local priorities that improve student achievement.

 Read more about the Encouraging Innovation and Effective Teachers Act…

To read opening statements, review amendments, or watch an archived webcast of today’s markup, visit www.republicans-edlabor.house.gov/markups.

# # #