UPDATE: The Every Child Achieves Act passed in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on Thursday with a 22-0 vote, according to USA Today. Around 30 amendments were adopted on the bipartisan legislation. There is currently no word on when it might go before the full Senate for a vote.
Dive Brief:
- On Thursday, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is expected to have a final vote on the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015, the name for its reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
- As of Wednesday afternoon, 24 amendments have been passed, six were shot down, and several more were added.
- The approved amendments deal primarily with providing resources for low-income and special needs students.
Dive Insight:
While annual testing has been a topic many have focused on during the reauthorization process (annual testing is currently set to continue, but with more flexibility in how states use scores), another big topic debated Wednesday is school bullying. Given the prevalence of bullying both on-campus and online, Sen. Alexander, head of the education committee and one of the Act's sponsors, has suggested legislation that would mandate all schools have policies in place to prevent bullying. Not everyone thinks this plan goes far enough, however, and some democratic legislators are pushing for there to be written language on what constitutes harassment so there can be consistency across the nation and little confusion between bullying and teasing.