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Obama Administration Threatens to Veto NCLB Bill

Obama Administration Threatens to Veto NCLB Bill

The Obama Administration has threatened to veto the Republican-backed bill to rewrite No Child Left Behind. 

The administration, which "issued a very similar threat against a very similar bill the House considered in 2013" doesn't like it because "they're not happy about what they see as a big step back on accountability, particularly for the poor and minority kids that NCLB was designed to help," said an article on EducationWeek.org. 

"The bill fails to maintain the core expectation that States and school districts will take serious, sustained, and targeted actions when necessary to remedy achievement gaps and reform persistently low-performing schools," said the administration, according to the article. "[The bill] fails to identify opportunity gaps or remedy inequities in access to the resources and supports students need to succeed such as challenging academic courses, excellent teachers and principals, afterschool enrichment or expanded learning time, and other academic and non-academic supports."

The article said that "the funding provisions in the bill don't help either."

"The bill's caps on Federal education spending would lock in recent Federal Budget cuts for the rest of the decade, and the bill would allow funds currently required to be used for education to be used for other purposes, such as spending on sports stadiums or tax cuts for the wealthy," the administration said, according to the article.

What's the only thing the administration likes? According to the article, the Obama Administration likes that "the bill keeps NCLB's annual schedule of testing students in grades three through eight and once in high school. But they also don't think it goes far enough in helping states limit testing."

"The Administration agrees on the need for high-quality statewide annual testing as required in H.R. 5, so parents and teachers know how children and schools are doing from year to year and to allow for consistent measurement of school and student performance across the State," the administration wrote, the article said. "However, this bill should do more to reduce redundant and unnecessary testing, such as asking States to limit the amount of time spent on standardized testing and requiring parental notification when testing is consuming too much classroom learning time."

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Article by Kassondra Granata, Education World Contributor

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