Bennet: Bipartisan NCLB Fix an Encouraging First Step

Press Release

Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet today said that the bipartisan bill to fix No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is an encouraging first step and that he hopes Congress will ultimately pass a bill to help ensure all of our kids receive a quality education.

"If there was a rally tomorrow to keep No Child Left Behind the same, nobody would show up," Bennet said. "In a system where only nine out of 100 children living in poverty will receive a four-year college degree, the burden of proof needs to shift from those who want to change the system to those who want to keep it the same.

"Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Enzi have worked tirelessly on a bipartisan bill to fix No Child Left Behind. I hope it will serve as a starting point to build broad support, and I am committed to working to find agreement with anyone committed to improving our public education system."

While NCLB has provided valuable data, its measurements of success are misguided, it offers few solutions and its one size fits all approach constricts school districts and prevents innovation.

The bipartisan bill builds on areas of progress, while fixing some of NCLB's longstanding problems that have stood in the way of further progress. The bill continues to collect and disaggregate data and ensures that there is still a focus on closing achievement gaps. It moves toward establishing college- and career-ready standards in states while focusing the federal role on the lowest performing schools.

It also vastly increases flexibility for school districts while reducing the number of federal programs and eliminating NLCB's one-size-fits-all approach.

Bennet, a member of the bill's extended negotiating table, included several provisions in the bill to support teachers and principals, drive innovation and end inequality to help ensure that our kids receive a 21st century education.

"As a former Superintendent, I have been on the receiving end of No Child Left Behind, and I know that well-intentioned ideas from Washington often do not make sense by the time they reach the classroom," Bennet said. "States like Colorado that have been on the cutting edge of reform have been hampered by NCLB, and I will fight to keep the provisions in this new bill that support Colorado in continuing to implement their state-of-the-art accountability and growth model system rather than getting in the way."

Bennet's provisions include establishing a competitive grant program for high-performing teacher pathway programs; creating career ladder opportunities for teachers; investing in innovation and opportunities for rural districts; providing funding flexibility for school districts; and closing the comparability loophole that often results in low-income schools subsidizing their more affluent counterparts as well as prevents Title I funds from meeting their intended purpose.

He will also continue working to ensure that teachers can focus more on teaching and less on testing. Bennet ensured that the Colorado growth model would fit the definition of growth in the bill while allowing states the flexibility to design innovative models that make sense for them.

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