Dive Brief:

• The U.S. House education committee passed two bipartisan bills Tuesday: a reauthorization of the Education Sciences Reform Act and a charter school bill.

• The Education Sciences Reform Act will make education research more relevant and timely, so that educators can quickly adapt findings to improve their classrooms and districts. 

• The charter school bill aims to grow high-quality charter schools and push those that are open to enroll and accommodate English-language learners and special education students. 

Dive Insight:

While there seems to be a number of topics nobody can agree on these days — education funding formulas, the Common Core, universal preschool spending, charter schools vs. traditional public schools — it is nice to see that some bills are able to pass swiftly with support from both sides.

The Education Sciences Reform Act seemed like a given since it deals with how research is dispensed — a benefit for all, and somewhat difficult to argue with if money is being thrown at research anyway. Who wants old findings?

Given how contentious charter schools can be, the charter bill took a bit more time to pass, but that said was generally painless. There were still many lawmakers who spoke about the misspending of some of these private-sector schools; however, the push to support special education and ESL students was a desired goal of both sides. Currently, numerous charter schools do not adequately support many of these students, a massive problem that is a top priority for House committee chairman, John Klein.