Senate Passes Alexander, Murray Bill to Fix No Child Left Behind

Press Release

The Senate today passed by a vote of 81 to 17 the Every Child Achieves Act, the bipartisan agreement by Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) to fix the No Child Left Behind law, which is seven years overdue.

Alexander said: "Last week, Newsweek Magazine called this the "law that everyone wants to fix'--and today the Senate's shown that not only is there broad consensus on the need to fix this law--remarkably, there's also broad consensus on how to fix it. This is the consensus: continue the law's important measurements of students' academic progress but restore to states, school districts, classroom teachers and parents the responsibility for deciding what to do about the results of those tests.

"On the Senate floor, we've considered 78 amendments, adopted 65 and passed a bill that says that the path to higher standards, better teaching and real accountability is through the states and local communities, not Washington, D.C. Now our job is to work with the House to produce a conference report that we can send to the president's desk."

Murray said: "Today, the Senate cleared a major hurdle with this strong bipartisan vote to fix the badly broken No Child Left Behind law, but we still have important work to do as this bill moves to a conference and before it is signed into law. I thank Chairman Alexander for his hard work with me to break through the gridlock and take this important step, and I am hopeful that this bipartisan work can continue as we take the next step to get this done. As we head toward conference, I look forward to working with Ranking Member Bobby Scott, the Administration, and the House and Senate Democrats and Republicans who are willing to work with us to continue improving the bill to make sure all students can get a good education no matter where they live, how they learn, or how much money their parents make."

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