Senate votes to rescind rules on school accountability

WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Thursday to end an Obama effort to identify and help struggling schools and students, as President Donald Trump and Republicans work to undo some of his predecessor’s key policies.

Senators voted 50-49 to rescind accountability rules issued in November to help states implement the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act, a law that addresses school ratings, student report cards and other ways to spot and help troubled schools. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill into law.

Republicans argued the regulations were an example of federal overreach and details of things such as report cards should be left to states and local communities. Democrats defended the rules, saying they provide important safeguards for vulnerable groups of students, such as children with special needs and minorities.

Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said the regulations violate the main idea of ESSA, which he said was meant to empower states on education matters. The law replaced the George W. Bush-era No Child Left Behind law.

“People had grown fed up with Washington telling teachers and schools, and superintendents and states, so much about what to do about our children in 100.000 public schools,” Alexander, who sponsored the measure, said on the Senate floor before the vote.