Senate Education Committee chairman releases statement on ESSA accountability rule

Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chairman of the U.S. Senate Education Committee, recently released a statement regarding the Department of Education’s final regulation for the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) accountability provisions.

“This regulation goes to the heart of the new law fixing No Child Left Behind, which reversed the trend toward a national school board and restored to states, communities and classroom teachers responsibility for the education of our children,” Alexander said. “I would have moved to overturn the earlier version of this regulation because it was not authorized by the new law, and included provisions specifically prohibited by the new law. I will carefully review this final version before deciding what action is appropriate.”

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on accountability, state plans and report cards under ESSA was released by the Department of Education on May 31, 2016. It states that schools designated for improvement using the new accountability system must be done by each state prior to the start of the 2017-18 school year.

To make certain the law was being executed the way it was written by Congress, the education committee held six hearings on the implementation of ESSA.