Inside: Title IX Coordinator Pledge,
AAUW Washington Update
http://www.aauw.org/
When I started working at AAUW in 2011, my predecessor told me I could expect to see Congress act on updating the No Child Left Behind Act the end of that year. It was already years overdue for an update, and the law was so unpopular. Finally, over four years later, Congress looks like it might actually be on the verge of completing its work to scrap NCLB, and move forward with a new bill.
Both the Senate and the House debated and voted on several amendments this week. The House ended up passing a horrible bill that takes a Grand Canyon size step backwards in educational opportunity and civil rights for students. H.R. 5 eliminates important federal protections and students' civil rights, fails to hold states and school districts accountable for closing achievement gaps and ensuring our students are meeting college-and career-ready standards, lowers education funding to 2012 levels, eliminates funding for Title IX enforcement grants, and more.
On the other hand, the Senate has moved in a bipartisan way and is moving in the right direction. The Senate bill includes several AAUW priorities which should seem very familiar to those of you who are signed up for our Action Alerts http://www.aauw.org/what-we-do/public-policy/two-minute-activist/. Among the highlights passed in the past two days: Sen. Blumenthal's amendment to fund state work on Title IX enforcement, Sen. Murray's amendment to provide data on high school athletic program expenditures for girls and boys (High School Data Transparency Act), Sen. Gillibrand's amendment to provide STEM programs for girls and minority students (STEM Gateways Act), are all included in the bill. But, there's still more work to do to make the bill better before it comes up for a final vote next week.
AAUW has called for an update of federal education policies since NCLB expired in 2007, but we need to make sure that any legislation that is ultimately signed into law ensures strong academic principles to closing the achievement gap for all children - objectives at the heart of ESEA. We also must insist on adequate funding for education priorities. The federal government has a critical role to play in attaining these goals, and AAUW endorses the use of a robust accountability system that helps ensure all children are prepared to be successful, participating members of our democracy.
The Senate is on the right track with its bipartisan approach to education policy, but there's work to be done to make sure a strong Senate bill passes next week and that its progress is not derailed by the partisan and destructive House proposal which must be conferenced before the bill is sent to the President.
Best,
Erin Prangly
Associate Director of Government Relations
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