President Obama will give 10 states a waiver from the No Child Left Behind law, freeing them from its strict requirements. The states—Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee—must come up with a new goals for improving achievement among all students and show that they’re preparing them for college and careers.
Twenty-eight other states, as well as D.C. and Puerto Rico, have also made it known that they plan to seek waivers from the law.
From the MSNBC article:
In September, Obama called President George W. Bush’s most hyped domestic accomplishment an admirable but flawed effort that hurt students instead of helping them.
He said action was necessary because Congress failed to update the law despite widespread bipartisan agreement that it needs fixing. Republicans have charged that by granting waivers, Obama was overreaching his authority.
The executive action by Obama is one of his most prominent in an ongoing campaign to act on his own where Congress is rebuffing him.
No Child Left Behind was primarily designed to help the nation’s poor and minority children and was passed a decade ago with widespread bipartisan support. It has been up for renewal since 2007.
