Statement on the Every Student Succeeds Act
Statement from Maryland’s Interim State Superintendent of Schools Jack Smith on the new Every Student Succeeds Act, signed Thursday by President Obama
For Immediate Release Contact: Bill Reinhard, 410.767.0486
Baltimore, MD
“The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was long overdue, and we are delighted a long-term, stable, federal education policy is now in effect. The new Every Student Succeeds Act provides important flexibility to states and local school systems and will support us as we continue to prepare our students to meet the challenges of an increasingly competitive global economy.”
“Maryland has long believed in the importance of strong accountability as a method of strengthening student achievement and moving our schools forward. With a continued requirement to provide disaggregated student performance data, the new law will continue to shine a light on the academic achievement of every Maryland student, while providing the State and its 24 local school systems the flexibility to implement improvement strategies that best meet the needs of individual schools.”
“We appreciate the support of the Maryland delegation as the bill moved through Congress, and particularly the work of Senator Mikulski, who successfully fought efforts to change the funding formulas for aid designated for schools serving Maryland’s economically disadvantaged students. Without her dedicated work, Maryland schools may have lost as much as $40 million.”
###