NCLB Isn't Likely to Be Senate's Top Priority
It looks like health care, which got a lot more attention during the presidential campaign than education, is going to take precedence over K-12 school legislation, at least in the Senate, when Congress comes back in January.
Michael Myers, a top aide to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, told Families USA, a health care advocacy group, that health legislation will be Kennedy's "first, second, and third priority" in the new Congress.
That would mean that the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, and other education bills, are, at best, fourth.
Kennedy, a key architect of the NCLB law, was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and had been working for his home on Cape Cod, but returned this week to Washington for Congress' lame duck session.
Comments
I agree that health care should be focused on first and foremost. People's priorities in their everyday lives should be their health, family, friends and school. Saying that, I also think that a national education plan should be second in line. For individuals to be provided with a quality and strong foundation of education is necessary to future success of our country. I believe that the No Child Left Behind Act should be reevaluated. It should be understood that students need different accommodations within their school. I hope that the country and our new president elect will see the need for a strong education system and that it will move up on their priority list.
Posted by: Kayla Coleman | December 2, 2008 1:40 PM