Cramer: House Appoints No Child Left Behind Education Reform Conferees

Statement

Congressman Kevin Cramer released the following statement after the U.S. House of Representatives appointed conferees to S. 1177, the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015. The legislation would reform the nation's No Child Left Behind education law.

"Education in the U.S. has taken another major step toward local control. After the House and Senate passed bills replacing No Child Left Behind, it seemed as though progress halted for several months. Both of these bills help put the brakes on Common Core by barring the U.S. Education Secretary from using waivers and tax dollars to coerce compliance with one-size-fits all testing. I am glad to see momentum swinging back toward restoring power to states and parents. I encourage the conferees to ensure the final bill prevents the Secretary and federal bureaucrats from using waivers and education funding to force states to adopt Common Core. We must guarantee states, not the federal, government determine their own education standards. Our goal should be consolidating and eliminating unnecessary federal education programs. Local flexibility and local control allows parents and school districts to recognize local realities and more effective use of education resources."

Both the House and Senate have passed education reform bills which defund Common Core.

The Republican House conferees are: Reps. John Kline, Virginia Foxx, Phil Roe, Glenn Thompson, Brett Guthrie, Todd Rokita, Luke Messer, Glenn Grothman, Steve Russell and Carlos Curbelo. The House Democrats on the conference are: Reps. Bobby Scott, Susan Davis, Marcia Fudge, Jared Polis, Frederica Wilson, Katherine Clark and Suzanne Bonamici.

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