Feedback from the U.S. Department of Education continues, with Secretary Betsy DeVos “issuing critical feedback that has rattled state school chiefs and conservative education experts alike,” according to Erica Green of The New York Times.
But some lawmakers aren’t so happy. Sen. Lamar Alexander, one of the main authors of the Every Student Succeeds Act, argued that acting assistant secretary Jason Botel “hasn’t read the law carefully.” In his comments, the Tennessee Republican, himself a former education secretary, maintained his support for local control, telling Education Week that “The heart of the entire law … was that it’s the state’s decision to set goals, to decide what ‘ambitious’ means, to make decisions to help schools that aren’t performing well.”