Getting education bills to the finish line

The two most significant laws governing education in this nation, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the Higher Education Act (HEA), are both well past due for a congressional update. ESEA was last reauthorized in 2002, with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, and the latest iteration of HEA was authorized in 2008. Despite widespread consensus that these laws need to be rewritten, every attempt at reauthorization in recent years has been met with failure.  Recent progress suggests that the current Congress may be poised to succeed where others have failed. But can Americans really expect new education laws this year?

On Wednesday, June 10, the Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings took an insiders’ look at the efforts to reauthorize ESEA and HEA. Expert panelists who occupied key positions as legislative staffers during previous reauthorization attempted to provide an honest examination of the process, what led to success or failure in the past, and what’s most likely to lead to success this time around.

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