TN Senator Alexander Says Regulations Hold Back Schools

Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander took the education bureaucracy to task this week, criticizing its approach to improving underperforming schools. Federal education officials estimate five thousand U.S. schools need such help. Sara Sciammacco reports from Washington.

The Obama Administration is pushing several proposals that include closing schools and enrolling students in better performing ones, replacing principals, and converting district schools into charter facilities. During a Capitol Hill hearing, Senator Alexander pointed to a constricting tangle of federal and state regulations as a big part of the problem.

“As governor I d idn’t know many people in the State Department of Education who could be of any help at all in helping Memphis turn around a failing school and I don’t think even our staff or we as smart as we think we are could do much to help you by saying here are four things we thought of now pick one of them. Isn’t that the real problem? Don’t you run into too many rules, too many regulations, too many interest groups?”

Panelists noted high rates of absenteeism and poverty that continue to hamper schools’ efforts to turn themselves around. They called on Congress to beef up funding, increase teacher training, and asked for more flexibility, especially for school districts in rural areas where it’s often harder to open new schools and recruit teachers.

Capitol News Connection reporter Sara Sciammacco produced this story.