FILE - In this May 7, 2014 file photo, House Education Committee Chairman Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill. On Thursday, Kline threw his support behind testing students annually under the federal No Child Left Behind education law. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File) U.S. Rep. John Kline will head up efforts to reconcile House and Senate bills to reconfigure No Child Left Behind.
Kline said in a statement Thursday there was much work ahead, but it was necessary.
""There is a lot of work to do in the coming months, and I am confident we will be able to craft a bicameral education bill that reduces the federal role, restores local control, and empowers parents and education leaders. Those are the kind of education reforms the American people expect and we must deliver," Kline said.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, who developed the Senate version of the bill, called the Every Child Achieves Act, said students and educators want to see meaningful change.
""Fifty million children and 3.5 million teachers deserve to get a result, and we should be able to achieve that this fall. While there are important differences, the consensus supporting the framework for the House and Senate bills is the same: Continue the law's important measurements of academic progress of students but restore to states, school districts, classroom teachers and parents the responsibility for deciding what to do about improving student achievement."
Kline, R-Minn., who leads the House Education and the Workforce Committee, Alexander, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Senate Ranking Member Patty Murray, D-Wash., and House Ranking Member Bobby Scott, D-Va., all met today to discuss the legislation.
The House passed its version of the bill, the Student Success Act, on July 8. Every Child Achieves cleared the Senate on July 16.