WASHINGTON – Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) issued the following statement Thursday regarding his vote against the Every Child Achieves Act.
 
“Not only did the Senate miss an opportunity to put states back in control of education policy,” Lee said, “but the Every Child Achieves Act also expands the Department of Education’s role in early education policies.”
 
“Some have argued that this bill creates new protections for states who want to resist Washington dictates on curriculum or testing. But current law already includes similar protections and the Obama administration has already blatantly ignored those.”
 
“The only way to truly free Utah schools from Washington control,” Lee continued, “is to either allow federal education dollars to follow each student, as Sen. Scott’s amendment would have done, or empower states to set their own education policies, no matter what the Secretary of Education says, as Sen. Daines’s amendment would have allowed.”
 
“Utah parents have been asking for a new direction on education, but unfortunately this bill only gives them more of the same.”