Today, the House voted 359-64 to adopt the conference report on the Every Student Succeeds Act. This bill reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the primary source of federal aid to K-12 education, and the conference report, or compromise, between the House and the Senate represents a key step forward for our nation’s schoolchildren by replacing No Child Left Behind Act policies which have hampered the growth of our students. Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28) issued the following response: 

“I am pleased that the House took this necessary bipartisan action to improve the experience of our nation’s schoolchildren,” Congressman Cuellar said. “As the son of parents who understood the value of a good education, I pay special attention to the opportunities our schools can create and have fought to improve the educational experience for children in my district and across the country. The conference report adopted today upholds key school accountability provisions while lessening our reliance on standardized tests under the No Child Left Behind Act, which have been shown to be incomplete measures of student success. By eliminating what is known as Adequate Yearly Progress, the compromise instead replaces it with an accountability system that would allow individual states to best identify the needs of struggling schools. 

“Importantly, the compromise also includes provisions to help states improve low-performing schools, increase teacher quality and help direct additional funds to low-income and ESL students, support successful charter school programs and increase access to critical academic and extracurricular programs such as afterschool care and increased access to STEM education and arts education.”