House, Senate Education Committees Release Text of No Child Left Behind Rewrite

Press Release

Today, the House Education and Workforce Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee released final, legislative text for a bill that would reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and replace the existing law known as No Child Left Behind. The release is the next step in a process to update the nation's most sweeping K-12 law, which hasn't been done since 2001.

As a senior member of the House Education Committee, Rep. Polis was one of seven House Democrats chosen earlier this month to serve on the conference committee for the bill. The conference committee negotiated the final version of the bill after separate ones passed the House and Senate over the summer.

"I'm thrilled that we're now one step closer to making an historic improvement to our nation's most important education law," Polis said. "This bill corrects the many flaws of No Child Left Behind while preparing our students for the demands of a 21st century global economy. It also successfully maintains the original intent of ESEA as a civil rights law first and foremost -- one that provides a world-class education to all students, no matter their zip code or economic background."

The House plans to vote on the negotiated bill later this week while the Senate is expected to take up the bill next week.

Polis has spent his career in public service fighting for a strong education system. He is the founder and former superintendent of the New America School, a network of charter schools in Colorado and New Mexico, and he's the former chair of the Colorado Board of Education. He also co-founded the Academy of Urban Learning, a charter school in Denver.

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