In a political embarrassment for Republicans, House GOP leaders on Friday abruptly cancelled a vote on a bill to update the George W. Bush-era No Child Left Behind education law after struggling to find support from conservatives.
The bill would keep the annual testing requirements on schools but would give more freedom to states and districts to spend federal dollars and determine how to identify and fix failing schools. But conservative opponents said it doesn’t go far enough to allow states and districts to set education policy. Such conservative groups as Heritage Action for America and Club for Growth are among opponents..
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Dan Holler, a spokesman for Heritage Action for America, said conservatives were upset that amendments weren’t allowed on provisions their group supported that included allowing states to opt out of the law and allowing public money to follow low-income students to private schools.
