In Case You Missed It

The nation’s one-size-fits-all mandates dictating K-12 education have been letting students down for years. Federal involvement in classrooms is at an all-time high. Yet far too many schools are ill-equipped to make the grade. The Obama administration has only made a broken system worse by imposing a backdoor education agenda on states and school districts through pet projects and temporary, conditional waivers.

As Education and the Workforce Committee member Rep. Mike Bishop (R-MI) writes in a recent op-ed:

For too long, the Department of Education has disregarded the 10th Amendment and our state’s ability to effectively lead the people it knows best – including our students. It doesn’t make sense to treat Brighton or Rochester, Michigan’s school districts like Brooklyn, New York’s or Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s. There cannot be just one, broad-stroke approach to achieving student success.

Fortunately, the Student Success Act places the country on a new course. Rep. Bishop continues:

While serving as the Senate Majority Leader of Michigan, I saw firsthand how much more effective we could be when control over education decisions was kept at the state versus the federal level. I’ve taken that experience with me to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, where my colleagues and I have focused on reducing the federal footprint in the classroom.

That’s one of the goals behind the Student Success Act, which the U.S. House of Representatives passed last week. Its improvements to our K-12 system would give states the freedom to choose what works best for them without the strings attached, including additional protection for states that choose to opt-out of Common Core. Best of all, it empowers parents and educators with greater flexibility by eliminating regulations that monopolize how and where students are taught.

This Congress has a duty to build a better path forward for our children. The Student Success Act does just that.

Americans deserve a better law, one that will help ensure every child in every school has access to an excellent education. By passing the Student Success Act, Congress has moved one step closer to that goal.

To read the op-ed in Detroit News, click here.

To learn more about the Student Success Act, click here.

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