Miller Statement on Waiver Announcement
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), senior Democrat on the Education and the Workforce Committee, issued the following statement regarding the Obama administration’s announcement today that the Department of Education will use its authority to grant waivers to states to provide relief to schools struggling under the decade-old No Child Left Behind law. Since 2009, Congress has been working in a bipartisan way to rewrite No Child Left Behind to fix the law so it works in the best interest of students.
The Republican majority in the 112th Congress announced they would take on the reauthorization in a piecemeal process. Since then, the Education and the Workforce Committee has voted on three bills, only one of which was bipartisan. The most recent partisan bill marked up by the Committee would allow federal funds to be redirected away from their intended purpose of supporting the education of poor students, as well and English Language Learners, migrant, neglected and Native American students. The bill undermines the federal role in education, which was established in part by landmark court cases to ensure education equality for all students. Following the markup, Miller said that such harmful policies made it increasingly difficult for a bipartisan reauthorization to be completed this year.
“I understand why Secretary Duncan and President Obama feel they need to take action -- the timing, coupled with recent disappointing policy actions by Republicans, make it very difficult to see how we can get a bipartisan ESEA this Congress. Time is simply running out to get a comprehensive bill done, but we can’t settle for anything less than what is best for our students,” Miller said. “We can’t expect schools to continue to function under 10 year old policies – it’s not good for our students or our economy. We need comprehensive action on accountability and policies that modernize our system.”
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