Kansas Education Commissioner Randy Watson on Thursday touted the new federal education law that will replace many of the requirements of No Child Left Behind.
“Overall, we are very excited,” Watson told the board of the Coalition of Innovative School Districts.
“We see a lot of flexibility in the law. Every day we get into it deeper, we get more excited about possibilities in the law,” he said.
The state education agency is putting together two panels to dive into the newest version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which was recently adopted on a bi-partisan basis in Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama.
The new law keeps intact the annual testing schedule under No Child Left Behind, but generally leaves to the states how much importance to place on the test scores.
Watson said the new law removes much of the authority over education from the U.S. Secretary of Education and gives it back to the states.
He also said he sees opportunities under the new state law to boost early childhood education.
“The board (Kansas State Board of Education) is extremely interested in kindergarten readiness. We are going to expand our presence in early childhood. We see over the long-term that could be beneficial,” he said.
He said ESEA won’t be the major driving force of Kansas education but will be more like the “backbone,” he said.
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