Among various players like the teachers鈥� unions looking to influence the Every Student Succeeds Act at the state level, a group led by former U.S. Secretary of Education William J. Bennett is seeking to make its mark.
Conservative Leaders for Education, which formed in July to push for accountability, high academic standards, local control, and school choice under ESSA, officially announced Oct. 24 that it had signed up four state lawmakers and a state school board member as new members in five states: Alabama, Colorado, Nevada, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
Joining the Roster
The new members of the organization are:
鈥� Colorado state Sen. Owen Hill;
鈥� Alabama state school board member Mary Scott Hunter;
鈥� Ohio state Sen. Peggy Lehner;
鈥� Wisconsin state Sen. Luther Olsen; and
鈥� Nevada state Assemblywoman Melissa Woodbury.
All are Republicans. And all, except for Hunter, are leaders of their respective legislative education committees. Including the members announced in July, the group can count nine total state officials as members.
In an interview, Bennett, the group鈥檚 chairman, said it wouldn鈥檛 be writing model legislation. But he said the participating lawmakers would share bills they are working on, as well as thoughts on which policy approaches might work well in their states and which might run into problems. Conservative Leaders for Education, he said, is looking for 鈥渁gents of policy change鈥� in statehouses when it comes to ESSA.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going about this with all deliberate speed. We鈥檙e being very careful about the people we鈥檙e selecting,鈥� said Bennett, who served as President Ronald Reagan鈥檚 education secretary from 1985 to 1988. 鈥淭hese are all people that are very committed to the issues.鈥�
Bennett said he had discussed the group鈥檚 work with several well-known and like-minded players in the K-12 policy world, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Thomas B. Fordham President Chester E. 鈥淐hecker鈥� Finn, and Center for Education Reform founder Jeanne Allen. None of those people, however, is formally involved with Conservative Leaders for Education at this point, Bennett said.
The group鈥檚 expansion illustrates the jockeying going on to shape how states approach school improvement, transparency, and accountability under ESSA. The measure gives state lawmakers significantly more power over those decisions than they鈥檝e had in recent years. Back in July, Bennett said he was worried that not only do Democrats talk like they 鈥渙wn鈥� ESSA, but 鈥渋n many ways, they have owned it.鈥�
The National Education Association is pushing its members hard to make sure states don鈥檛 make just a few tweaks under ESSA and call it a day. And the union is praising states that have adopted a 鈥渄ashboard鈥� approach to accountability that doesn鈥檛 require a single, summative rating for schools. That approach might not get the approval of the U.S. Department of Education, however.
