Official: Withdrawal of education regulations won’t impact Tennessee

NASHVILLE - A resolution passed by the U.S. Senate Thursday looks to rescind a President Barack Obama-era set of rules spelling out the implementation of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act education law.

The resolution is expected to be signed by President Donald Trump.

Although the resolution might cause changes in states across the country in their implementation of the sweeping federal education law, Tennessee isn’t expected to be affected by the removal of the regulations. The Every Student Succeeds Act, passed two-years ago under Obama, is the most sweeping education law since No Child Left Behind.

The regulations laid out rules for areas under the law that include school improvement and accountability. Tennessee’s plan has frequently been touted by education leaders in the state as one created specifically for Tennessee schools.

“We have intentionally drafted our ESSA plan in alignment with the language in the statute itself, not with the language of the regulation, and our plan is based on the work that our state has begun through the Tennessee Succeeds strategic plan,” said Candice McQueen, Tennessee education commissioner, in an emailed statement. “If there were areas where we have needed additional clarity, we have reached out to Sen. (Lamar) Alexander’s and Secretary (Betsy) DeVos’ offices to request that guidance.

“We have received some verbal guidance and are expecting more in writing in the coming weeks, and we continue to also work closely with the Council of Chief State School Officers to ensure we have any additional guidance prior to the April submission deadline for our ESSA plan.”

The regulations were viewed, especially among Republicans, as an overreach that took away state control in implementing the new law. The Senate vote was led by education committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.

“The issue before us was whether the United States Congress writes the laws or whether the Department of Education writes the laws. Under Article I of our Constitution, the United States Congress writes the law, and in at least seven cases this Education Department regulation directly violated the Every Student Succeeds Act law passed just 15 months ago,” Alexander said in a news release. “And in at least 16 other cases, the regulation did something that the Congress did not authorize it to do.”

Alexander said the regulations created a national school board instead of divesting power to state and local authorities.