WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 10, 2015) – National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial today issued the following statement on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act:
“Congress has come to a bipartisan compromise to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This rewrite of the law is eight years overdue.
“Throughout this process, the National Urban League and its affiliate movement worked with a bipartisan group of champions in Congress to ensure civil rights protections for vulnerable children were uplifted in the debate to reauthorize the nation’s preeminent civil rights education law. The National Urban League thanks Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA) and the Congressional Tri-Caucus for their leadership and unrelenting advocacy, and we are also grateful for the steadfast commitment of Senate Democrats and Senators Mark Kirk (R-IL), Cory Gardner (R-CO) and Rob Portman (R-OH), to our civil rights priorities.
“We are pleased that this bill maintains the right of every student to a high quality education that is measured against college- and career-ready standards and that families will receive greater transparency about their children’s progress, as well as information about the state of their children’s schools every year. The bill also requires interventions when subgroups of students left behind and creates a statutory obligation to address resource inequities at the state, local and school levels. Finally, this reauthorization provides funding to increase access to quality early childhood education and better science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning opportunities. In serving the new majority of students in our nation’s public schools, these critical tools and supports are necessary.
“Our Congressional champions fought hard for civil rights priorities in this compromise. Nonetheless, we remain deeply concerned that the bill provides states’ more discretionary authority while unnecessarily restricting the federal role. Indeed, states advocated for greater flexibility—but when given greater control in the past they have not been strong stewards of civil rights. With this reauthorization, states have the opportunity to prove their commitment to an equitable and excellent education for all children—and the National Urban League and our civil rights partners will hold them to this renewed promise.
“We also recognize that moving forward with a reauthorization is better than inaction and that this bill is an improvement over current law. The National Urban League and its over 90 affiliates across 36 states, will immediately begin working with Congress, states and the current and future administrations to ensure the Every Student Succeeds Act is faithfully executed and upholds civil rights protections. We call on states and local school districts to join us in empowering families and communities as true partners so that together we can ensure that every child graduates high school ready for college, work, and life.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Courtney O’Neal
coneal@nul.org | (202) 629-5754
