President Barack Obama signed legislation that empowers parents and states in making education decisions

WASHINGTON – Today, PublicSchoolOptions.org and parents across the country commended President Barack Obama for swiftly signing the Every Student Succeeds Act, which reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The bill is a step forward in giving power back to states to determine how best to assess and improve its schools and empowering parents with more of their children’s education decisions.House Education and Workforce Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.), and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, Todd Rokita (R-Ind.), led the effort for education reform in the House this year with their introduction of the Student Success Act, which was passed by the House in July. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) introduced the Every Child Achieves Act earlier this year, which passed the Senate in July.The Every Student Succeeds Act replaces the current K-12 education law, No Child Left Behind.STATEMENT FROM TILLIE ELVRUM, PUBLICSCHOOLOPTIONS.ORG PRESIDENT, SCHOOL CHOICE ADVOCATE AND PARENT LEADER:“We are thrilled to see President Obama take swift action to sign the Every Student Succeeds Act into law, which received strong bipartisan support in the House and Senate. This law trusts parents, states and local communities to make education decisions and is a step forward in creating more student-centered accountability. Today, parents and students win.”Every Student Succeeds Act highlights:• Removes the mandated focus on school- or district-wide averages in accountability designs and allows for focus on student-centered accountability.• Allows greater flexibility to states, which will need to follow through, to design testing and accountability systems that empower parents.• Prohibits any federal coercion or mandate on Common Core by allowing states to develop their own standards.• Empowers parents to make informed choices in selecting the school that best serves a student’s learning needs.PublicSchoolOptions.org is a national alliance of over 60,000 parents that supports and defends parents’ rights to access the best public school options for their children. The Coalition supports the creation of public school options, including charter schools, online schools, magnet schools, open enrollment policies and other innovative education programs. Additionally, we advocate for equal access without restrictions to the school that best suits the individual student’s learning needs whether it is public, non-public or home-based.With active parent-led organizations in over thirty states, PublicSchoolOptions.org is an advocacy organization that is unmatched at the grassroots level. Just as parents have fought for years at the state level to support education policies that improve access and provide greater public school options, the parents of PublicSchoolOptions.org stand ready to support policy at the federal level that matches the principles outlined above.

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