Polis Issues Statement on Opposition to No Child Left Behind Reauthorization

Press Release

Congressman Polis issued the following statement today after voting in opposition to H.R. 5, "the Letting Students Down Act":

"Today the House of Representatives passed a terrible education bill that would strip funds from schools and erode the federal government's crucial responsibility to ensure accountability and transparency for our nation's schools and teachers. I opposed this legislation because it will cuts education funding, remove critical programs for STEM, literacy, and the arts, and retreat on our responsibility to provide a world class education for all students. This bill also takes us backwards, effectively excluding students with disabilities from school accountability systems. Without the current cap on how many students can take alternative assessments, states have every incentive to allow students with learning disabilities to be taught to different, lower standards and removed from school accountability systems altogether.

While I am pleased that I passed two amendments to improve this bill -- one to improve flexibility and increase innovation in the charter school sector, and one to improve access to computer science -- these improvements do not fix the overarching flaws with this legislation, which lets down our nation's students in so many ways. This bill was also made significantly worse overall during the amendment process, particularly the passage of an amendment that would remove all requirements related to reporting on teacher quality.

Unfortunately, this bill also failed to include language that would protect lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) students against discrimination and bullying. I am disappointed that Republican leadership blocked a vote on my amendment, which would have ensured that all students have access to public education in a safe environment. I would have hoped that every member in this body would agree that there is increasing bipartisan consensus schools should be a safe place for all students to learn.

I strongly supported Ranking Member Miller's Democratic alternative amendment to this bill which invests in our nation's teachers and ensures high expectations for all students. This amendment would have moved forward towards getting accountability right, instead of taking us a step backward to a time when schools had every incentive to hide poor performance and engage in a race to the bottom."

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