Kline, Obama face off on fixing education law

WASHINGTON - When President Obama called for overhauling the No Child Left Behind act before the next school year, the task of pouring cold water on the idea was handed to one Republican: Rep. John Kline.

Kline, who took over as chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee this year, said he wouldn't rush in fixing the education law. He also rebuffed Obama's call for a sweeping reform bill. Instead, Kline plans to draft legislation in small chunks in the coming months.

"I can't let his pronouncement rush me into doing something that we can't get done in a reasonable way," Kline said. "I'm going to move this process at our pace, not the president's pace, not the [education] secretary's pace, but the pace we can take it."

Kline's pushback on NCLB comes on what will be one of the defining issues in his new role as committee chairman. Kline, who represents the Second District just south of the Twin Cities, has become the point man on education in the new GOP-controlled House. Revising the Bush-era law will be one of the largest projects his committee tackles.

Unlike the budget and health care, NCLB is one of the few areas where both Republicans and Democrats agree that a major fix is needed. The 2002 law, passed amid bipartisan fanfare, established a testing system to measure school progress.

Since then, it has earned some praise for raising test scores, but many educators and politicians have criticized its accountability measures. Both Obama and Kline have cited the fact that 80 percent of schools could be considered "failing" this year as evidence that changes are needed.

The number of failing schools under the law could jump from 37 percent to 82 percent this year because standards are raised annually, in order to push for 100 percent student proficiency by 2014 -- largely viewed as an unattainable goal. "We know that four out of five schools in this country aren't failing," Obama said last month.

"That common agreement between Republicans and Democrats that we have to do something about this is kind of a unifying force bringing together some ideologically very different folks," Kline said.

That doesn't mean politics has no role. Obama's call for a bill and Kline's response triggered dueling accusations: Are Republicans delaying in order to deny Obama a legislative victory in the run-up to the 2012 election? Is Obama pushing an artificial timetable for his own political gain?

Rep. Tim Walz, the Democrat representing the First District across southern Minnesota, said House Republicans shouldn't drag their feet. "I'd hope maybe they'd pick it up a little bit," Walz said. "[Kline] said he doesn't want to be rushed, and he wants to take his time. I would argue to go out and talk to schools to get the sense of urgency coming from them."

Kline dismissed the notion that he's stalling.

"I'm mindful of the fact that if you do nothing, No Child Left Behind continues to require by law ever more draconian interventions by Washington," Kline said. "There are a lot of issues out there that have to be addressed."

When Kline came to Congress in 2003, he had little intention of becoming a leading voice on education. Often called "Colonel" on the Hill, Kline is a retired Marine who piloted Marine One, the presidential helicopter, and carried the "football" with nuclear codes.

He was a natural fit for the Armed Services Committee. But as a freshman, he also was placed on the Education and the Workforce Committee. He embraced the assignment and was elevated to ranking member in 2009.

The five-term congressman has made a quick rise: He has the least congressional experience of any House chairman.

Kline is part of the "gang of eight" in Congress that has met regularly on NCLB, including a White House appointment with Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

Although they often disagree politically, Kline has an ally in Duncan, and the two talk frequently. "He has been a key partner in our efforts to dramatically reform education in America," Duncan said in a statement.

Kline and the Obama administration agree on several facets of NCLB.

They want to change testing accountability provisions and teacher performance measures, and are pushing for more charter schools.

But the similarities don't bridge the wider gap about the federal government's role in education. NCLB expanded the federal presence in K-12 education, something Kline and Republicans hope to scale back.

Cost is also a divisive area. Obama has said he won't cut education spending. Kline thinks education, like the rest of the federal government, can be trimmed.

Fixing the country's failing schools, Obama said in a March 14 speech, "requires reform, but it costs some money. We cannot cut education."

"Add the policy complications to the political complications -- those are some significant hurdles for fixing No Child Left Behind," said Kathryn Pearson, a University of Minnesota political scientist.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, says he's planning to present a full Senate bill before Easter, while Kline says he will start proposing pieces of legislation this summer.

Russ Whitehurst, a senior fellow at the left-leaning Brookings Institution's Brown Center on Education, said there's political will for reform because NCLB has become "a tarnished brand."

"It's the prescription for the fix that's the issue," he said, "not the notion that we've got a problem."