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The Minnesota Daily

Serving the UMN community since 1900

The Minnesota Daily

Serving the UMN community since 1900

The Minnesota Daily

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Senate committee approves reform

A  United States Senate education committee has unanimously passed a bipartisan bill packed full of reforms to the No Child Left Behind Act. 
 
The bill, which legislators called the Every Child Achieves Act, gives states more control of their educational systems and simultaneously establishes minimum federal requirements that states must follow when implementing changes. It also includes a number of miscellaneous measures designed to modernize the country’s schools.
 
Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken authored four such amendments, including one that would expand schools’ mental health services and another to increase students’ access to accelerated learning programs. 
 
In February, the U.S. House attempted to pass similar reforms to No Child Left Behind, but partisan loyalties stalled cooperation. House Republicans refused to approve any measure that would require additional spending, and both the White House and House Democrats protested the resulting bill. In particular, Minnesota
 
Republican Rep. John Kline, who heads the House Committee on Education, refused to support testing reforms similar to those that the Senate committee recently passed. 
 
We are glad to see a Minnesota senator playing such an active role in national politics, and we commend Franken for his involvement in authoring the bill.
 
Furthermore, we approve of the Every Child Achieves Act’s content, as we feel that No Child Left Behind has long been in need of an update. The U.S. Senate committee’s willingness to cooperate across partisan lines stands as an exemplary model for the House, which would do well to learn from it.
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