This bill (S. 1177), the Every Student Succeeds Act (first introduced as the Every Child Achieves Act), would reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESAA) for four years, through fiscal 2020. Total authorizations would be $24.5 billion for fiscal 2017, increasing to $26.1 billion in fiscal 2020. The bill would replace the No Child Left Behind Act, and continue the requirement for regular standardized testing in core subject areas such as math, reading, and science. Scores for the standardized tests are to be separated by categories such as race and income to determine if any “subgroup” is lagging academically. The bill would also require states to develop plans to help low-performing public schools.
The Senate passed S. 1177 on December 9, 2015 by a vote of 85 to 12 (Roll Call 334). We have assigned pluses to the nays because, as explained in House vote 19, the federal government has no constitutional authority to be involved with education; nowhere in the U.S. Constitution is education listed as one of the government’s enumerated powers. K-12 education, if publicly funded, should be run primarily by parents coordinating with local school districts rather than by a centralized bureaucracy out of Washington, D.C
