On the recordJuly 15, 2015
I am grateful to Senator Bennet. Senator Bennet and I met around education issues. Senator Bennet led the largest public school system in the State of Colorado. Senator Bennet has been in the weeds of education for years, if not decades. I am grateful that Senator Bennet began his remarks by saying all of the things that have been wrong with No Child Left Behind. That was a bad piece of legislation. We saw the aspects of it that were causing problems and that have created a bipartisan push to fix them. I want to give credit to Senator Lamar Alexander and Senator Patty Murray for joining together and doing the things necessary to improve the bill. The culture of education has shifted in this country, from high-stakes testing to looking at measures that made no sense to creating artificial deadlines that could not be met or even doing things that undermined the very goals and aspirations that we have for our country, which is to lead the globe in educational excellence. So, I am encouraged by Senator Bennet and myself and the majority of this body who agree that this legislation needs to be changed. It is a left-right coalition that is encouraging to me. But I want to echo Senator Bennet's concerns about a problem that is not being addressed--that as the pendulum swings away from the problems of No Child Left Behind, we not create new ones that cut against the very ideals with which this legislation was put in place by Lyndon Johnson.…
