Wyoming’s ranking senator says the proposed changes to the decade-old No Child Left Behind Act are not perfect, but the re-authorization bill is the product of bipartisan cooperation. According to a release from U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi’s Office, the ranking member on the Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee, the legislation should give more latitude to states and local school districts.

Markup adds amendments:

“We did this after a series of hearings listening to our constituents and colleagues, and in my case working with Sen. Alexander to identify what we should keep and what needed to be changed through re-authorization. We’ve worked since then to address the areas that needed changing, obviously bringing our own interpretations of how best to accomplish that, but ultimately finding what I hope is middle ground to move this re-authorization document forward. Three big things that this does is it reduces the federal footprint, it continues a system of transparency to parents regarding student performance, and it eliminates many duplicative and wasteful programs.”

Sen. Enzi has been working with Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, on these reforms for longer than a year. Wednesday’s bill consideration was day-one of a legislative markup, a process meant to amend legislation in a committee before it is considered and sent to the full Senate.

Senators from both sides of the aisle have amendments in mind, dozens of potential amendments before the re-authorization goes to the Senate floor.

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