Report: No Senate Action on NCLB Reauthorization in 2007

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

Thanks to Jan Resseger for a "heads up" about this national wire service 
story which was buried by major media over the weekend:

SENATE NOT CONSIDERING NEW EDUCATION LAW
Associated Press -- November 2, 2007
by Nancy Zuckerbrod

Washington -- The top two lawmakers on the Senate Education Committee 
are putting off consideration of a new No Child Left Behind law until 
next year, congressional aides said Friday.

Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., have decided 
that there's not enough time this year to complete work on the 
legislation, which has not yet been formally introduced.

The five-year-old law, up for a scheduled rewrite, requires math and 
reading tests in grades three through eight, and once in high school. 
Schools that miss testing benchmarks face increasingly stiff sanctions. 
The law, originally passed in 2001, is among President Bush's top 
domestic policy priorities.

Kennedy, the panel's chairman, had previously said he wanted a bill 
before the Senate this year. He now is aiming, however, to bring a bill 
up for consideration early next year, the aides said. They spoke on 
condition of anonymity because negotiations over the content of the 
legislation are ongoing and sensitive.

It may be even more difficult to pass a rewritten No Child bill next 
year because it is a presidential election year. It is harder to get the 
bipartisan consensus needed to pass major legislation against the 
backdrop of an intense presidential campaign.

House lawmakers have not decided whether to keep trying to bring a bill 
to the floor in what little time is left in this calendar year. They, 
too, say time is running out.

``It is growing less likely that we will get a bill off the House floor 
in 2007,'' said Tom Kiley, a spokesman for Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., 
the chairman of the House education committee. ``We continue to work 
hard on the bill. Discussions with Republicans and education 
organizations continue.''

Lawmakers in both parties - along with the Bush administration - are 
pushing for important revisions to the law. If the law isn't revised by 
Congress, the existing law stands.

There is broad agreement that the law should be changed to encourage 
schools to measure individual student progress over time instead of 
using snapshot comparisons of certain grade levels.

There is consensus, as well, that the law should be changed so that 
schools that miss progress goals by a little don't face the same 
consequences as schools that miss them by a lot.

Deep divisions remain over some proposed changes, including merit pay 
for teachers and whether schools should be judged based on test scores 
in subjects other than reading and math.