{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398545", "House Approves Major Reforms to K-12 Education Law", "2015-12-03", "2015", "2015-12", "Republican", "House", "AK", "Don Young", "Y000033", "donyoung.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, D.C.  Today, the House passed bipartisan, bicameral legislation to replace an outdated K-12 education law plaguedwith one-size-fits-all policies and riddled with unreasonable standards. S.1177, the Every Student Succeeds Act, is the first major reform to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act since the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) became law in 2002.\r\nMany will agree that our current education system is broken, filled with unreasonable, unworkable and unmanageable federal standards, said Congressman Young. Alaska suffered greatly under NCLB, a law which failed to take into account our states unique educational challenges. Despite the best efforts of Alaskas educators and administrators, our geographic, economic, and cultural barriers have often prevented schools in the state from complying with NCLB requirements. As a former teacher, I am committed to ensuring our nations children are provided with the best possible education. I believe S.1177 contains a number of critical reforms Alaskan parents and teachers have demanded. By empowering our states and restoring local control, we get the federal government out of the way as we invest in the next generation of our nations leaders.\r\nThe K-12 legislation advanced today would stop the federal governments promotion of Common Core and protect the rights of states and school districts to develop or change their own standards as they see fit. The bicameral bill:\r\n \r\n    Prohibits any agent of the federal government  including the Secretary of Education  from incentivizing, forcing, or coercing states into adopting Common Core,or interfering with a states standards or assessments.\r\n \r\n \r\n    Rejects policies and programs the secretary has used to coerce states to adopt Common Core, including waivers of K-12 education law with strings attached and the Race to the Top program.\r\n \r\n \r\n    Prevents the secretary from imposing additional burdens on states and school districtsthrough the regulatory process in areas of standards, assessments, and state accountability plans.\r\n \r\n \r\n    Eliminate Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) standards for states, which have proved to be burdensome one-size-fits-all requirements rather than catalysts for states to improve student performance. S.1177 replaces AYP with state-determined accountability systems, thereby returning authority for measuring student performance to states and school districts.\r\n \r\n \r\n    End federally mandated interventions currently required of poor performing schools, giving states and districts maximum flexibility to develop appropriate school improvement strategies and rewards for their schools.\r\n \r\nThe Every Student Succeeds Act is a bicameral agreement developed from legislation previously passed in the House and Senate. The bill includes important language crafted from provisions authored by Congressman Don Young and provisions authored by Senator Lisa Murkowski to reauthorize and improve the American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian education equity programs. S. 1177 would:\r\n \r\n    Authorize nearly $32 million annually for the Alaska Native Education Program (ANEP);\r\n \r\n \r\n    Reform grantee requirements for ANEP eligibility to ensure that Alaska Native Organizations are always lead recipients and have the primary responsibility for the development and implementation of funded programs. \r\n \r\nThe Senate is expected to consider final passage of S. 1177 in the coming days.\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://donyoung.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=398545"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9019779972732067, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}