SPRINGDALE -- Jim Rollins, Springdale schools superintendent, was U.S. Rep. Steve Womack's guest Tuesday night at the president's State of the Union address.
"This is a first," Rollins said. "It's a real privilege."
Each member of Congress can invite one guest, and Womack, a Republican from Rogers, chose Rollins, whom he described as a "good friend."
"In his role as superintendent of the Springdale School District, Dr. Rollins has had an incredible impact on the quality of education students in Northwest Arkansas receive, and I cherish the close working relationship I have with Dr. Rollins and other education leaders in the Third District," Womack said in an email.
Rollins said he spent Tuesday morning meeting with Womack, who took him to visit U.S. Rep. John Kline, R-Minnesota, chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee. Their discussions included the potential reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Rollins said.
The last reauthorization was signed in 2002 by former President George W. Bush as the No Child Left Behind Act. The law has been due for a rewrite since 2007.
"I was very encouraged by the report from Rep. Kline," Rollins said. "He really gave me a lot of hope we might see a Republican version and a Democratic version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and the two parties would be very focused on trying to reach a compromise."
Reauthorization would provide superintendents with more stability in their planning, said Rollins, an Arkansas representative on the governing board of the American Association of School Administrators.
No Child Left Behind set a goal for 100 percent of students to be proficient in math and reading on annual state standardized tests by 2014. States were required to develop standards and test students on those standards to determine whether students were on grade level in those two subjects.
Under President Barack Obama, the U.S. Department of Education established a process for states to receive waivers from the requirements of No Child Left Behind in exchange for state-developed plans designed to improve the education of students.
Most states, including Arkansas, have received those waivers.
The waivers provide relief to some schools, but that relief was not approved for all students and all schools, said Noelle Ellerson, the administrator association's associate executive director of policy and advocacy.
"There's a difference between flexibility through Congress and a comprehensive re-authorization that makes that flexibility available to all, as opposed to a waiver," Ellerson said. "You have a federal resource that's more equitable."
The national association supports a complete reauthorization and returning more control to the state and local level, she said.
Congress has attempted to reauthorize the federal education law twice since 2007, with this year's efforts marking the third attempt, said Anne Hyslop, a Washington-based senior policy analyst for Bellwether Education Partners. The national nonprofit group focuses on improving education for low-income students.
While the consensus among federal lawmakers is No Child Left Behind was too strict in its requirements for states, school districts and individual schools, Republicans and Democrats disagree on the appropriate federal role in education, Hyslop said.
"There is definitely renewed energy," Hyslop said.
NW News on 01/21/2015