Heidi Alexander: “I ask unanimous consent that a copy of my opening remarks during the conference with the House of Representatives on S.…”

“I ask unanimous consent that a copy of my opening remarks during the conference with the House of Representatives on S. 1177, the Every Child Achieves Act, be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND CONFERENCE Representative Kline, Representative Scott, Senator Murray, ladies and gentlemen. We're here for one reason today, because I sat down with Patty Murray in January and she gave me some good advice and I took it. And the advice was--why don't we see if we can develop a bipartisan beginning to this bill, because we had failed in the last two congresses. And as a result we ended up with a bill that passed by the Senate after many amendments, 81 to 17. Newsweek magazine recently reminded us what we already knew very well: No Child Left Behind is a law that everybody wants fixed. Governors, teachers, superintendents, parents, Republicans, Democrats, students they all want to see this law fixed. There is a consensus about that. And, fortunately, there is a consensus about how to do it. And that consensus is this--Continue the law's important measurements of academic progress of students but restore to states, school districts, classroom teachers and parents the responsibility for deciding what to do about improving student achievement. That's why in the Senate the bill passed 81 to 17.…”