Congress buys more time to pass a transportation bill

In exchange, the states had to submit federally approved plans to raise student performance. His fundraising email accused Murphy of a “fear of orphans and widows with brown skin”, echoing an earlier Obama criticism of Republicans for opposing the refugees, who include many women and children.

No Child Left Behind required annual testing of children in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school. Critics have complained there’s an excessive amount of testing and the law is just too punitive for faculties deemed to be failing.

Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., accused likely 2016 challenger Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., of an “irresponsible and reckless decision” to oppose the “common-sense” House bill.

An amendment from Sen.

“I can not think of a more potent recruitment tool for ISIL than a few of the rhetoric that’s been coming out of here during the course of this debate”, Obama said Tuesday.

But it frees states and districts from the prescriptive sanctions – ranging from mandatory tutoring up to school closings in extreme cases – that No Child Left Behind imposed on schools that persistently failed to raise test scores.

The deal also would bar the U.S. Education Department from requiring states to adopt Common Core academic standards in exchange for federal grants.

Republicans had pushed the concept of portability – allowing money to follow low-income students to public schools of their choice. Now, those dollars remain at the struggling schools.

That’s because the House and Senate conference committee were able to agree to a framework that would restore to states, communities, and teachers the responsibility for improving student achievement.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest, speaking to reporters with Obama on a flight to Malaysia Friday, said White House staff members were talking with lawmakers about reforms to the visa waiver program.

Mary Kusler, director of government relations for the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, said that she wanted to see the details of the bill’s language, but that union leaders were “absolutely elated” that both parties had reached an agreement on a revision of what is formally known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. “The framework maintains annual assessments and gives states additional flexibility in how to design better accountability systems”.

-“We are on our way to a new environment in public education”. “It creates the potential to bring back the joy of teaching and learning and to really prepare our kids for their future”.

November 10, 2015-The House and Senate appoint conferees and begin work on merging the bills from both chambers.

Symbolic or not, Thursday’s House vote held significant risks for Democrats in swing districts, as well as for those lawmakers in safe districts eyeing statewide races down the road.

Republican Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Democrat Patty Murray of Washington, sponsors of the original bill in the Senate, said the compromise measure marked a proud moment for Congress that would help end uncertainty in federal education policy.