House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been largely silent about the No Child Left Behind Act. But yesterday she told the National Conference of State Legislatures that Congress will make such signficant changes to the law that it will have to be renamed.
NCSL has been sharply critical of much of the NCLB law, particularly its expansion of the federal role in education. But Ms. Pelosi seems to think they’ll like the new version, according to this story on stateline.org.
“I believe you will be pleased with the legislation that is gathering strong bipartisan support. The bill will be fair and flexible, responding to legitimate concerns by you and others while fulfilling our promise to improve student performance, increase school accountability and provide students with the resources they need to learn the skills that will be crucial to their future success,” she said
But it’s too soon to tell just how those ideas will translate into policy. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., is one of Ms. Pelosi’s closest confidantes, and some observers say she’s likely to largely defer to him during reauthorization.