Friday: Finishing up education reform in the House

Democrats say the bill is too dramatic a shift back to state control, and warned on Thursday that the bill would let state education standards slide. They also argued the bill would give states more freedom to ignore special needs students and students learning English than they can under current law.

{mosads}The bill should pass on the strength of GOP support. But like so many other House-passed bills, the legislation is unlikely to move in the Senate in its current form.

The White House has also said President Obama would veto the bill.

“Among other things, the bill would not support State efforts to hold students to standards that will prepare them for college and careers; would not support our international economic competitiveness; would virtually eliminate accountability for the growth and achievement of historically underserved populations,” the White House said.

After dealing with several amendments Thursday night, the House will consider five last amendments to the bill, and then pass it before leaving for the weekend.

The Senate will hold a brief pro forma session on Friday, and returns Tuesday to continue work on legislation to lower federally backed student loans from the current 6.8 percent rate. A bipartisan groups of senators reached an agreement on Thursday that should allow the Senate to pass legislation on this issue next week.