by Jason Russell
Washington Examiner
December 9, 2015
School choice is typically a state issue. When Congress debated long-overdue reforms to No Child Left Behind this year, school choice was not the main focus, or even a secondary focus. A few amendments came up that would have allowed federal funding to follow a child to his or her school of choice, but none were approved.
When the various provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act take effect, school choice should be largely unaffected. But you wouldn’t know it by the number of celebratory press releases I received from pro-school choice groups after the Senate voted Wednesday to send the final bill to President Obama.
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The Center for Education Reform applauded passage while reminding the public that the bill isn’t perfect. “I salute the leaders in Congress, and the advocacy and education groups who together forged this critical compromise legislation defining the appropriate role for the federal government in education affairs,” said Jeanne Allen, the group’s founder and president-emeritus. “Much, however, remains to be done, including correcting existing overreach of the federal education regulations into the affairs of state charter authorizing and oversight.”
Allen told the Washington Examiner that the Every Student Succeeds Act won’t affect school choice very much. The bill actually prohibits the secretary of education from incentivizing or punishing states for adopting or rejecting certain education policies.
Allen is among those pushing for federal money to follow students to schools of choice, in states that have choice programs. “This is a concept that just doesn’t get through, not just to Democrats, but to many suburban and rural Republicans who school board leaders convinced that that is somehow unfunding or defunding public education.” Allen gave credit to Republican leadership for supporting the idea that funding should follow students.