On Friday, September 25, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner resigned from Congress effective at the end of October.

This action caught everyone by surprise. With the Republican party in flux, the pundits are debating what will become of the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind in the aftermath of Boehner’s resignation (read more here), with many calling the ESEA rewrite “toast.” It will be harder for Rep. Kline, who is also retiring at the end of 2016, to get the support necessary to get a conferenced bill acceptable to the White House thru the House of Representatives.

Boehner, one of the original four architects of the original No Child Left Behind legislation (Rep. Boehner, former Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and former Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H.) supported the House ESEA bill, the Student Success Act (HR 5), and is a proponent of voucher programs.

Expect much more in the weeks ahead as lawmakers debate the end of the fiscal year (and a possible government shutdown) as this story continues to develop.

NSTA and NCTM Call on Congress

The National Council of Mathematics and NSTA sent a letter to House and Senate appropriations leaders last week, calling on them to accept the Senate funding level of $141,299,000 for the Department of Education Title II B program as they negotiate FY 2016 funding for federal education programs (read the letter here).

The funding for this program, and other federal education programs, will be at stake in the next few weeks as Congressional leaders finalize a FY16 budget; strategies include shutting down the federal government on Oct. 1 if they cannot come to an agreement on a budget bill for the fiscal year. Read more.

Jodi Peterson is Assistant Executive Director of Legislative Affairs for the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and Chair of the STEM Education Coalition. e-mail Jodi at jpeterson@nsta.org; follow her on Twitter at @stemedadvocate.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

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