Friday, June 25, 2010

ESEA reauthorization still under discussion

I'm lamentably behind on posting on national policy, as I've been overwhelmed by local policy lately. I should note, however, that there are still conversations going on in Washington around ESEA reauthorization, 'though the chances of anything getting passed this year are fairly slim. There's some question on how clearly legislators are a) hearing and b) communicating the overwhelming amount of grassroots concerns around reauthorization as proposed by the Obama administration. As Valerie Strauss writes:

Department officials say that they meet with thousands of people a week to discuss policy, and it is unlikely they have the organizational ability to meet exclusively with supporters. So they hear some griping.

The question is whether they listen, and the available evidence suggests that nobody at the highest levels in the government grasps the depth of the disillusionment and the breadth of disapproval to the Obama/Duncan vision for public education.

Progressive Democrats came out with their own blueprint for reauthorization (and considering the opposition on this one from the left and the right, give it a look, regardless). It's also possible that your concerns might be similar to those of Leonie Haimson, writing about parents being left out of this process. You might mention that should you happen to run into--or write or call--your Congressional representatives and senators while they are home.
Or you might make a point of it!

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