January 8, 2002: President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act which created extensive changes in elementary and secondary education. The primary principles of this piece of legislation are reform and accountability. States are required to set high education standards and are required to set annual goals to raise student achievement in order to close achievement gaps between students. States and schools will be help accountable for their student's achievement through annual statewide testing to is to be aligned with state standards. Standardized tests, graduation and retention rates are a few of the standards that are used to measure adequate yearly progress.
May 13, 2004: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act The Senate (95 to 3) reauthorizes the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). First passed in 1975, IDEA guarantees "free, appropriate public education" to children with disabilities. More specifically, IDEA provides students with support services such as assistive listening systems, Braille textbooks, talking computers, and speech synthesizers.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (H.R. 2660) The Senate rejects (42-54) an amendment offered by Sen. Mark Dayton (D-Minn.)to the to the FY 2004 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill that would increase IDEA funding by $11.1 billion.
Higher Education Funding (H.R. 2660) The Senate defeated an amendment offered by Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) to the FY 2004 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill that would have provided an additional $2.2 billion in higher education funding. Most of this money would have gone toward the Pell Grant program, which is currently used by 4.8 million young people to help make college education more affordable.
Head Start Reauthorization (H.R. 2210) House Republicans stripped protections against religious discrimination by some organizations receiving federal Head Start funds. Their change allows religious organizations to practice employment discrimination against people who do not share the organizations' religious beliefs, even it the job is being paid for with federal funds. Other types of employment discrimination, such as sex, race and disability discrimination would remain illegal. A Democratic amendment by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), intended to prevent religious discrimination with federal funds, failed on an almost entirely party line vote, 200-229.
Amendment to Increase Funding for Hispanic Education Programs (H.R. 2660) The Senate rejected (46-48) an amendment proposed by Senator Reid (D-Nev.) to the FY 2004 Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill that would waive the Budget Act to allow for a $210 million increase in funding for Hispanic education programs, including $20 million for dropout prevention, $85 million for language instruction, and $4.5 million for migrant education.
May 23, 2001: The House passed its ESEA reauthorization bill (H.R. 1) by a vote of 384-45. The House rejected - by wide, bipartisan margins - two proposals by Rep. Armey (R-TX) to add private school vouchers to the bill. The Senate passed its version (S. 1) just weeks later on June 14, 2001. The two bills will be reconciled in a House-Senate conference committee in the near future. The conferees have yet to be named.
October 21, 1999: H.R. 2 passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 358-67. Prior to passing the bill, an amendment by House Majority Leader Richard Armey (R-TX) to spend $100 million a year on vouchers to allow students to pay for tuition at private schools failed by a vote of 257-166. Another amendment offered by Rep. Thomas Petri (R-WI) to allow for vouchers in 10 states also failed, 271-153. But partisan bickering led to Congress' failure to enact the ESEA reauthorization in the 106th Congress
October 13th, 1999: In the 106th Congress, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce reported legislation to renew Title I of ESEA. By a vote of 42-6, the Committee sent H.R. 2 to the House floor. The Committee rejected efforts to include voucher plans that would allow parents to use federal dollars for private school education; maintained the reforms included in the 1994 reauthorization; and gave children in "failing" schools the option to transfer within their public school system.
