Today, Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC) issued the following statement after the Department of Education announced 2020-2021 testing and accountability requirements under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA):
“While flexibility is needed this year, the Biden administration is offering waivers in exchange for states’ acceptance of unrelated new requirements in violation of ESEA. Once again, President Biden is politicizing our children.
“Today’s announcement claims that safely reopening schools is President Biden’s first priority, but his actions continue to say something different.
“I urge President Biden to follow the science that says schools can safely reopen. Families are demanding it and students desperately need it. And where flexibility with federal requirements is needed, I call on the president to offer them without conditions as the law requires.”
BACKGROUND: ESEA requires states, as a condition of receiving Title I funds, to test students every year in reading and math in grades three through eight and once in high school. Test scores are then used, along with several other factors, to evaluate each school’s performance each year and periodically identify low-performing schools for improvement.
