ESEA Moving Forward
For those who may have questioned whether the major federal education law ever would be reauthorized, at least one committee in the Congress last month answered with a resounding “yes”! In a historic 22-0 vote, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee moved its version of ESEA to the floor for further debate and a vote. Of course, approval by a committee is no guarantee that a piece of legislation will pass a chamber, let alone be signed into law, but the commitment of majority Republicans and minority Democrats to approve the proposal on a strong bipartisan basis is certainly an indication of a serious effort to reauthorize ESEA in this session of the Congress. On the other side of the Capitol, where the House version stalled after being approved on a nearly party-line basis in committee, the Senate action may be seen as an opportunity to try again to enact a bill in the coming months.
