News Home

By Congresswoman Virginia Foxx

As a former teacher and administrator, I truly value my visits to schools in the Fifth District. The exchanges with students, teachers and administrators continue to be educational for me. Student questions are often unique and my hope is to encourage their interest in national issues and help them become more involved. Teachers and administrators often make comments about No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The comments range from suggesting that NCLB be done away with entirely to frustrations with specific regulations. The most practical solution seems to be amending the current legislation, thereby making it more responsive to the needs of students and teachers.

The federal government created a major role for itself in K-12 education when Congress passed the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 1965. NCLB was simply the eighth reauthorization of the ESEA. The purpose of the original ESEA was to improve educational quality and educational opportunities in elementary and secondary schools throughout the nation, with a focus on the relationship between poverty and low educational achievement. The ESEA was signed into law by President Johnson on April 11, 1965.

Congress is preparing to discuss the ninth reauthorization of ESEA, now renamed NCLB. The Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, recently published her proposed changes to the current legislation. As a member of the House Committee on Education and Labor, it is important for me to hear firsthand what educators believe is working and is not working before the committee begins to work on any details of or changes to the bill.

The President’s Day district work period gave me the opportunity to spend time in several schools across the Fifth District as well as hold a roundtable on NCLB in Forsyth County. The roundtable was a great opportunity for me to hear from Superintendents, Board of Education members, principals and teachers from across the district about their concerns with NCLB and their recommendations for program improvements. The Deputy Chief of Staff in the Department of Education along with a member of the Education and Labor Committee staff also participated in the roundtable to offer a federal perspective to the discussion. I appreciate all those who participated, with special thanks to Dr. Don Martin and the staff of the Winston-Salem Forsyth County school system for their help in making the roundtable possible.

My focus will always be on representing the opinions of the people of the Fifth District in the policy debates in Washington. The roundtable was an excellent opportunity for me and Secretary Spellings to hear how NCLB is directly affecting the students and teachers of the Fifth District. It equipped me with recommendations and feedback from constituents as the Education and Labor Committee prepares to debate and markup any reauthorization language. I continue to believe that you – not bureaucrats in Washington – know what is best for students in North Carolina, and I will be presenting those common sense recommendations to the President, Secretary, and the Chair of the Committee.

Editor’s Note: Virginia Foxx is a United States Representative from North Carolina’s Fifth Congressional District. You may contact her office toll free at 1-866-677-8968 or e-mail her from her website, www.foxx.house.gov.