Chair's Press

WASHINGTON, December 18 – The chairman and ranking member of the Senate education committee today commended Senate passage of legislation to “improve the quality of education research and make research more relevant and usable for teachers, principals, school districts and states.” “This bill makes research on education...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 17 – The chairman of the Senate education committee today made the following statement on his legislation to extend the Perkins Loan Program for two years, which now heads to the president’s desk for signature after passage today in the House: “My goal in the Senate education committee is to find...

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander deservedly is receiving a lot of credit for guiding through Congress the education reform measure that replaces the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 during the first year of President George W. Bush. Alexander, the Tennessee Republican, former Secretary of Education and former two-term governor, was one of the primary...

WASHINGTON, December 16 – The chairman of the Senate health committee today said that guidance released by the Obama administration that tells states how they can obtain waivers from Obamacare is “not much flexibility and not much relief.” “This so-called waiver provides surprisingly little relief from Obamacare, which...

It is the nature of the right these days that a major legislative victory goes almost unnoticed while failure to obtain unrealistic aims (e.g., repeal Obamacare while President Obama is still in office) is analyzed and discussed endlessly. (And inevitably denounced as another betrayal.) This past week, the GOP achieved something extraordinary...

It took a while — 13 years — but the nation’s education law finally has a fix. The Every Student Succeeds Act is signed and sealed. It’s up to the nation’s educators to deliver. This would not have happened without the determination of U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander to unlock bureaucratic shackles on teachers, allowing them...

Last year, campaigning for reelection, I said to Tennessee voters, “Give us a Republican majority in the United States Senate and we’ll repeal the federal Common Core mandate and reverse the trend toward a national school board.” This past week, the United States Congress did just that and President Obama signed it. The Wall...

WASHINGTON – House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) and Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA), along with Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), released the following statements after President...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 9 – U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today, after the Senate passed the Every Student Succeeds Act, 85-12, said he hopes “President Obama will wrap a big red bow around it and sign it” for 50 million children and 3.4 million teachers in 100,000 public schools. “Mr. President, the United States...

“By restoring responsibility to states and classroom teachers, we are inaugurating a new era of innovation and excellence in student achievement   ... [and] in the future, the path to higher standards, better teaching and real accountability will be through states, communities and classrooms and not through Washington,...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 9 – Following Senate passage today by 85-12, the Every Student Succeeds Act to fix No Child Left Behind, sponsored by Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.), heads to the president’s desk. The House of Representatives...

“The human costs of this epidemic are too high, and I hear about the challenges of dealing with this epidemic at home in Tennessee, particularly in East Tennessee where I am from. ...[b]ut, the truth is, this problem affects all states and is frontline issue for communities all over.” WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 8 – The...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 3 – Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.), following Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s announcement that the Senate would take up the bipartisan, bicameral agreement to fix No Child Left Behind next week, said they look forward to a...

“Six years ago, Republicans warned the president about the disastrous consequences of Obamacare for millions of Americans. Unfortunately for these Americans, Republicans were right when we said that Obamacare would burden state Medicaid budgets, increase premiums and taxes, and hurt jobs. We need to start over and go step by step toward the...

“A bipartisan compromise has emerged from the Senate and House … [that] would represent the largest devolution of federal control to the states in a quarter-century.” – Wall Street Journal editorial, 11/30 “Gone are No Child Left Behind’s proficiency benchmarks and mandated federal interventions. The Education...

WASHINGTON, December 2 – Senate education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today released the following statement on House passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act – legislation to fix No Child Left Behind – by a vote of 359 to 64: “The real winners in today’s House vote are 50 million children...

WASHINGTON, December 1 – Five and a half years after the White House health care summit at Blair House, Senate health committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) today spoke on the Senate floor to discuss what Republicans warned the president would happen if Obamacare became law – and to outline what this “historic...

Conservative reformers have had major successes, notably on welfare in 1996. But when a reform doesn’t turn out as hoped, they need to adapt. A case in point is No Child Left Behind, which the GOP Congress is now preparing to leave behind. This week the House plans to debate the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which lapsed in...

WASHINGTON, November 30 – U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate education committee, released the following statement on the National Governors Association’s full endorsement of the Every Student Succeeds Act: “The National Governors Association's full endorsement of our bipartisan legislation to fix...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today bipartisan leaders on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions released the final legislative text for improving K-12 education and replacing No Child Left Behind. The final bill is being released after legislative proposals passed separately...