Tom Harkins and Lamar Alexanders Plans for Reauthorizing When it comes to the long-stalled reauthorization of the No Child

Left Behind Act, two things are clear. The first? That chances of reauthorization happening in this Congress is slim to none, largely because of the dissension over the future of the law within both Democratic and Republican party camps, as well as because of the Obama Administrations unwillingness to broach any legislation that weakens its sloppy and counterproductive gambit to eviscerate No Childs accountability provisions. The second? That the plans for reauthorization that will be offered this year will do little more than weaken the commitment to advancing systemic reform on behalf of the futures of children that No Child represented. So your editor has little positive to say about either the lackluster No Child reauthorization plan unveiled Tuesday by Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Tom Harkin or the even worse alternative that will be offered up today by Lamar Alexander, the one-time reformer who now serves as the ranking Republican on the panel. Neither plan is worthy of our childrens futures. One wouldnt have expected both the Senate Democrats and their Republican counterparts to come up with competing proposals. After all, two years ago, Harkin and then-ranking member Mike Enzi came up with a reauthorization plan that actually made it out of the committee. But things have changed since then. Harkin attempted to negotiate with Alexander on developing a reauthorization plan, but it ultimately didnt work out. Not that Alexander was engaging in any serious negotiating anyway. These days, he and his fellow Republicans in the federal upper house have plenty of reasons for not engaging in any discussion. All that said, lets at least say for Harkin: By offering his latest reauthorization plan, he is behaving like a grown-up. Unlike Alexander, or House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (who remains committed to essentially going back to the days when the federal government ladled Title 1 subsidies to states and districts without holding them accountable for improving student achievement) or the Obama Administration, the Iowa Democrat understands that responsible political leaders should at least make the effort to engage in thoughtful lawmaking. The plan is, to put it kindly, not the worst that he and other Senate Democrats could have written. Given the opposition to such efforts from the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers, its questionable whether the provision will remain in the legislation; but at least Harkin is giving it the old college try. Click on their website www.girlstrims.com for more information.