Cutting Federal Requirements and Giving States More Control Over Education Programs (H.R. 5)

What is H.R. 5?

(Updated July 13, 2017)

H.R. 5 (the Student Success Act) aims to offer states greater control over their public education programs, while weaning them off federal funding.

Through changes made to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, and the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) H.R. 5 would:

• Eliminate over 70 federal education-improvement programs—along with their employees — and replace them with a "Local Academic Flexible Grant" to support state initiatives.
• Grant state and local governments more authority to directly evaluate and improve programs in low-performing schools.
  
• Repeal the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) metric used by the federal government to measure school performances.
• Introduce state measures to help school districts evaluate teacher performance in the classroom.
• Consolidate various educator programs into a single Teacher and School Leader Flexible Grant program to run a holistic bunch of initiatives that address hiring, training and retaining teachers.
• Re-authorize the Charter Schools program, which includes programs to promote charter school education.
• Authorize more resources for programs assisting homeless youth.
• Increase transparency in the Department of Education.

Finally, the bill prohibits the Secretary of Education from:

• Imposing assessments on state school districts in exchange for exemption from federal laws.
• Creating new regulations for school districts, specifically additional standards and assessments.
• Demanding that states change their standards of academic measurement.

Argument in favor

Removes the onerous requirements and punishments imposed by No Child Left Behind Act. Also gives states the power to set their own metrics and goals for academic achievement.

Argument opposed

Destroys federal oversight in public schools, removes a uniform measurement of academic achievement, and allows school districts to allocate unequal funds to different education programs.

Impact

Students in U.S. public schools (especially those in low income school districts), educators, administrators, the No Child Left Behind Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, and other Federal education programs.

Cost of H.R. 5

The CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 5 would authorize the appropriation of approximately $137 billion between 2014 and 2018, and it would have $85.6 billion in discretionary costs in the same period.

Additional Info

In Depth:

Proponents of H.R. 5 — or the Student Success Act — claim that the bill would achieve a popular bipartisan wish: a major revamp of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Enacted in 2001, the NCLB created assessment standards that schools are required to use to receive federal funding. Since it's implementation, the NCLB has been frequently criticized on both sides of the aisle for being intrusive, financially burdensome, and overly reliant on standardized testing.

The most serious complaint made against H.R. 5 is a loophole in the Title I law that this bill won’t close. Title I was designed to ensure that poorer schools received equitable funding compared to non-Title I schools. A provision in the NCLB Act allows schools to demonstrate “comparable service” if there is a similar teacher-student ratio. But they don’t need to demonstrate equitable payment of teachers or funding per pupil, which means school districts have the discretion to over-fund wealthy schools and under-fund poorer ones. Critics of H.R. 5 claim that it will effectively sanction an education policy that is harming America’s neediest students.

Others worry that removing federal oversight may lead to other serious inequities in schools. They point to examples like a 2012 Virginia accountability plan that listed achievement targets that were significantly lower for African American students compared to White students. H.R. 5 also relies on states to take greater initiative when it comes to identifying and fixing under-performing schools.

Media:

Sponsoring Rep. John Kline (R-MN) Press Release

CBO Cost Estimate

Star Tribune

Education Workforce

American Progress