Although the Senate and House education committees passed bills within the past year to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), none of those bills were considered in their respective chambers.
House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) and his staff said that the two bills passed by the House committee in February 2012 would be considered on the House floor before the August recess, but a legislative agenda for the remaining weeks released by Speaker of the House, John Boehner, included no education legislation.
On the Senate side, HELP Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) had previously announced that the Senate would not bring his bill to the floor until the House passed a “bipartisan” bill.
With limited legislative days remaining before the looming November elections and a number of appropriations bills still to pass before the fiscal year ends on September 30, there’s little chance ESEA will be completed this year.
While waivers and Race to the Top are growing in prevalence right now (26 states have been approved for waivers), the presidential and congressional elections will have a large impact on whether they remain in place beyond 2014.