Dive Brief:
- U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) told an American Enterprise Institute audience Wednesday morning that the role of the U.S. Department of Education is to act as a "cheerleader, the Consumer Reports of good schools and bad schools ... highlighting the people who are innovating and making changes."
- Alexander said there's no role for the federal government to hold states accountable on what should be 100% a state issue, adding that while states don't always get it right, "federal involvement in these issues can become counterproductive."
- In a speech which touted the bipartisan passing of the Every Student Succeeds Act, highlighting compromises on both sides of the aisle, Alexander also said he supported the repeal of the accountability provisions, because the regulations overstepped the intent of Congress and did not reflect the bipartisan efforts of its body. "The federal role should be mostly limited to reporting how children are performing, and the states’ roles should be figuring out what to do with it," he said, also adding that while states need to have accountability plans, "The secretary doesn’t have to approve the plan, there just has to be one."
Dive Insight:
Alexander said he proposed to President Reagan during his time in the Oval Office a "grand swap," which would exchange a federal takeover of Medicaid programs for a total return of education to the states. The problem with this, which Alexander himself mentioned in his speech, is that states can't always be trusted to do the right thing for all students within the state. In some districts, schools are being forced to divert funds intended to improve the quality of education offerings to cover administrative costs. And in many others, a lapse in court-ordered desegregation policies has led to a return of segregated schools, and grossly disparate resource allocation.
But it isn't just in overt policy where states need to be held accountable. Teacher and administrator biases that steer students of color away from AP and advanced courses and keep them out of the top schools also need to be addressed, and a central oversight body could help hold those responsible accountable.