On December 2, 2015, the U.S. House of Representatives – by an overwhelming vote of 359 yeas to 64 nays – passed the final version of S. 1177, the Every Student Succeeds Act, otherwise known as the reauthorization (or updating) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) or, more recently No Child Let Behind. Although there are areas of the Every Student Succeeds Act that fall short of the goals promoted by the NAACP including a strong federal role or sufficient resources being authorized to educate our children, this bill is an improvement on the legislation that passed the House and Senate and will better serve the most vulnerable students than current law.
Now that the final version has passed the House of Representatives, it needs to pass the U.S. Senate before going to President Obama for his signature and to become law. A vote is expected in the U.S. Senate next Tuesday, December 8, 2015. Please take a moment over the next few days to contact both your Senators and urge them to support moving the final bill to the President’s desk for his signature and enactment.
For information on what the bill does and how you can be an effective advocate, please see the linked Issue update / Action Alert.