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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
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WHEREAS, The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary |
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Education Act, currently termed the No Child Left Behind Act of |
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2001, is now more than five years past due, and the most recent |
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revision of the law was passed over 12 years ago; and |
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WHEREAS, The State of Texas, Texas school districts, and |
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Texas campuses need federal education policy that allows for state |
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and local control in order to best educate the five million |
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schoolchildren of Texas, a vast and varied group of young people who |
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will not succeed under a one-size-fits-all approach; and |
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WHEREAS, The current mandate to test every child every year |
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in grades 3-8 and again in grades 9-11 promotes teaching to the |
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test, and it has narrowed the curriculum, prevented the |
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implementation of efficiencies in state budgeting with regard to |
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testing and accountability, and caused local educational agencies |
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to dedicate an excessive number of days to standardized testing |
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that would be better spent educating students; and |
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WHEREAS, Both the U.S. House Education and the Workforce |
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Committee and the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, |
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Labor, and Pensions passed bills to reauthorize the current |
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education law during the previous Congress, and the house and |
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senate are equipped to debate their bills on the floors of their |
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respective chambers and ultimately to reauthorize the law; now, |
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therefore, be it |
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RESOLVED, That the 83rd Legislature of the State of Texas |
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hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to rewrite the |
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Elementary and Secondary Education Act in order to lessen the |
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burden of over-testing and teaching to the test; and, be it further |
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RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official |
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copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to |
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the president of the Senate and speaker of the House of |
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Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the |
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members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that |
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this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a |
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memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |