By Mary Kay Bacallao, Ed. D.

The Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 passed in the U. S. House and Senate this week.

After fighting this bill for almost a year, activists are wondering how it passed with overwhelming bi-partisan support.

Democrats call it a civil rights victory. Republicans claim that it returns authority to the states and ends federal control through waivers. No Child Left Behind wasn’t working; the rewrite is not “perfect” supporters said, but something needed to be done.
Is there evidence to support these claims? Reading the bill is the only way to know for sure.

The bill transfers accountability to the states, but the authority over education is given to the appointed Secretary of the U. S. Department of Education. Each state must submit an education plan to the secretary.

The state plans must include the same knowledge, skills, and levels of achievement as expected of all public school students in the state in math, reading OR language arts, and science with nationally recognized assessments aligned to the standards. Since most states have already re-branded and implemented the Common Core language arts and math standards and assessments, the path of least resistance will be to exclude reading.

Federal funding is provided through grants for the development of nationally recognized assessments. Data collection is required in the form of a state report card to be submitted electronically to Congress. The report cards will be used to compare achievement across states and ethnic groups.

Transcripts of public hearings on the contents of the state plans will be submitted to the U.S. DOE. The plans may remain in effect for up to seven years (page 30, line 19).

Does the bill enhance local control? Absolutely not; it expands the role of the federal government over assessments and data.
Waivers are still available, but only if a state is using, “the challenging state academic standards and aligned assessments… and is producing the report cards, or if the state adopts new challenging state academic standards… and has made substantial progress (as determined by the Secretary) toward producing the report cards…” (page 979-980).

The Secretary of the U.S. DOE can terminate the waivers at any time (page 994). “Equitable participation of students and professional staff in private schools” shall not be waived under any circumstances (page 998, line 16).

Does the bill end the use of waivers as a means of federal control over education? Absolutely not, it cements the use of comparable standards and assessments across the states, with waivers still available in areas not deemed essential by the federal education department. This bill perpetuates a one-size-fits-all educational system.
In looking at the what Democrats are calling a civil rights victory, states will have to demonstrate how, “… low income and minority children … are not served at disproportionate rates by ineffective, out of field, and inexperienced teachers, principals, or other school leaders…” as measured by the statewide evaluation system (Page 63, line 23).

The key here is how teachers are rated. Since the rating system is statewide and based on dictates from the U.S. DOE as outlined in the state plans that have to be approved by the federal government, an effective teacher is not necessarily what parents and local community members say it is.

Is this a civil rights victory? Maybe. It depends on your definition of civil rights. Can a law guarantee equal access to an effective teacher? Who determines effectiveness? What will it take to make that happen? That could be possible if the same computer-generated “teacher” taught all students. There is money in the bill for grants to explore those possibilities. Whoever controls the computer program, controls what students learn.

But, if you think that civil rights include the ability for parents and students to make choices about what they learn and when they learn it; then this bill is not a civil rights victory, it is a civil rights defeat.
There are stated bi-partisan reasons, and then there is the real reason this bill passed in the House: Money. The bill frees up taxpayer education money and makes it available in the private sector where locally elected local school officials can’t oversee it. The money can follow the student to charter and private schools, just as long as the U.S. DOE approved standards, assessments, and data collection also follow the student. Some Republicans like that.

The bill funds, and will control, many extra programs for students below 200 percent of the poverty line, and expands government birth-5 and extended school day programs. Some Democrats like that.

The result is a system that completely excludes parent, teacher, and student voices and replaces them with state authority. The only way to avoid the federal education agenda is to refuse the federal money. The Every Student Succeeds Act is an unjust law. It is unconstitutional. Who will speak up for the parents, students and teachers?

Mary Kay Bacallao, Ed. D.
EducationalFreedomCoalition.com
MaryKayBacallao@hotmail.com
Fayetteville, Ga.