If it becomes law, the waiver plan would let some schools opt out of heightened nutrition standards next year.

Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind., is introducing a bill that aims to increase school-choice programs for military and special needs children.

School systems in Florida are worried that an NCLB waiver-renewal decision will arrive too close to the start of the 2014-15 school year for adequate planning.

The potential sale of 20 million student records by ConnectEDU, an ed-tech company that filed for bankruptcy in April, draws action from the Federal Trade Commission.

Senate panel's amendment includes a plan to provide training for schools to comply with student nutrition standards.

States and school districts would be charged with thinking much more critically about how to help students who have been in special education make the transition into the workforce.

"We can't continue to relegate talent and potential to the sidelines," Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said in discussing minority participation in certain classes.

Socioeconomic and racial segregation continues to be a problem 60 years after the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision abolishing "separate but equal schools," three federal lawmakers say.

The proposal would require the waivers for districts that can demonstrate at least six months of net revenue loss from compliance.

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro has been reportedly tapped by President Barack Obama to be the new U.S. secretary of housing and urban development.