For Immediate Release: June 23, 2015
Contact: Sharon Cannon, Sharon.Cannon@nasbe.org, 703-740-4824
NASBE Joins National Education Groups to Call for Senate Consideration of Elementary and Secondary Education Act
Alexandria, VA – Today, the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) joined 10 national education groups representing educators, principals, school boards, superintendents, chief state school officers, parents and PTAs, and school business officials to urge the U.S. Senate to bring the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization bill to the floor for a vote. At a National Press Club event held earlier today, NASBE Executive Director Kristen Amundson issued this statement:
“It is time that Congress revisit the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which has for more than 50 years provided important guidance to states and districts about how to achieve our shared goal of helping all students graduate from high school prepared for college, a career, and civic life.
NASBE members represent states from across the country. They are politically diverse, but they agree that a renewed ESEA should share some important principles:
- First, it must promote equity and excellence, consistent with the law’s historic vision and purpose. And, because the world has changed since the law’s last reauthorization, NASBE members express a concern that equity extend to digital equity for all children.
- Second, NASBE members believe that equity begins with holding all students to high standards. The new ESEA must support, without prescribing, state and local efforts to implement statewide standards that set high expectations for all children.
- Third, the new ESEA must promote meaningful accountability. We are seeing some exciting new efforts in states to find better ways of assuring that all children meet high standards. We want the new ESEA to promote efforts that will promote a more strategic approach to accountability and assessment.
- Finally, we believe the new ESEA must support state and local leadership and capacity building.
On behalf of the citizen leaders who serve on state boards of education, I ask Congress to take action. We believe that the Senate bill, a product of bipartisan compromise, offers a great vehicle for moving our nation’s education policy forward. Let’s put kids first.”
Earlier this year, NASBE’s Government Affairs Committee issued recommendations for ESEA reauthorization, urging that the new law effectively support and cultivate state and community leadership in promoting meaningful accountability, encouraging continuous improvement, and establishing systems for better supporting the nation’s educators.
The National Association of State Boards of Education represents America’s state and territorial boards of education. Our principal objectives are to strengthen state leadership in education policymaking, advocate equality of access to educational opportunity, promote excellence in the education of all students, and ensure responsible lay governance of education. Learn more at www.nasbe.org.
###