Washington, DC, September 6, 2007 – The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) submitted comments yesterday on the House Education and Labor Committee's (Committee) Title I discussion draft for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
CCSSO believes the Committee is looking at the right areas for improvement in the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), but strongly urges further consideration around how the revised law can truly spur continuous state and local innovation, facilitate increased state capacity, and provide greater resources. Please click on the embedded hyperlinks to view the cover letter and a copy of the specific, categorized comments submitted to the Committee.
“States agree with the Committee that the law should be reauthorized this year, but we must first get it right by avoiding the notion that federal law can codify a single formula for success in every area and every state context,” CCSSO Executive Director Gene Wilhoit stated in his letter to Committee leadership. “Achieving our shared education goals will require that we make room for sound education judgment and encourage continuous improvement across the states.”
Over the past year CCSSO has released an ESEA Reauthorization Policy statement, recommendations to strengthen and update ESEA, and specific legislative language codifying the recommendations. CCSSO leadership and chief state school officers from across the country have participated in numerous Congressional hearings and meetings on reauthorization to provide input on areas of the law that need to be improved.
"We appreciate the hard work of the Committee members and their staff, and we look forward to working closely with them in the coming months to address the elements of the draft language we feel are overly prescriptive and unnecessarily complex," Wilhoit concluded.
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions. CCSSO provides leadership, advocacy, and technical assistance on major educational issues. The Council seeks members’ consensus on major educational issues and expresses their views to civic and professional organizations, federal agencies, Congress, and the public.
