STATE REPRESENTATIVE KATHRYN SWAN VISITS WASHINGTON, D.C. TO ADDRESS THE REAUTHORIZATION OF THE

NEWS ADVISORY CONTACT:

404/633-1866

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Mikko Lindberg

November 6, 2015

mlindberg@csg.org

STATE REPRESENTATIVE KATHRYN SWAN VISITS WASHINGTON, D.C. TO ADDRESS THE REAUTHORIZATION OF THE

FEDERAL ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT

(Atlanta, Georgia) -- With the potential reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary

Education Act (ESEA) nearing a critical junction, a delegation of Southern states' legislative

education committee chairs traveled to Washington, D.C. between November 4-5, 2015, for meetings

with influential members of Congress involved with the reauthorization process, as well as a policy

session with key staff from the legislative and executive branches and a Washington, D.C-based

nonprofit educational research organization.

The delegation, organized by the Southern Office of The Council of State Governments (CSG), the

Southern Legislative Conference (SLC), in collaboration with CSG's Washington, D.C. Office, focused

on securing a more detailed timeline for the passage of ESEA, determining the potential outcomes of

the compromise that will be reached by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives for the

versions passed by each chamber, voicing a need for states to gain greater flexibility from federal

educational oversight, examining how the groundbreaking legislation will affect state educational

systems and governments, and preparing for the potentially significant changes to federal

educational policy.

State Representative Kathryn Swan, chair of the Missouri House Elementary and Secondary Education

Committee, joined her Southern legislative colleagues on the delegation, also including Senator

Dolores Gresham of Tennessee, chair of the SLC Education Committee and chair of the Tennessee

Senate Education Committee; state Representative Tom Dickson of Georgia, vice chair of the SLC

Education Committee and chair of the Georgia House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education; state

Senator Dave Sypolt, chair of the West Virginia Senate Education Committee; and state

Representative Rita Allison, chair of the South Carolina House Education and Public Works

Committee.

During their Washington, D.C. visit, delegation members met and discussed the ESEA reauthorization

and related matters with U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, chair of the U.S. Senate

Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP); U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia,

majority member on the Senate HELP Committee; Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, majority member

on the Senate

HELP Committee; Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri; Congressman Bobby Scott of Virginia, ranking member

of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce; Congressman Alex Mooney of West

Virginia;and Congressman Trey Gowdy ofSouth Carolina.

During an afternoon policy session, several policy experts and key government officials provided

further insights into the current status of ESEA reauthorization and the positions of the executive

and legislatives branches that ultimately must approve any compromise. From the U.S. Department of

Education, Emma Vadehra, chief of staff to U.S Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and Simone

Hardeman-Jones, special assistant in the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs, provided

the view of the administration; David Cleary, chief of staff to U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander and

the majority staff director for the Senate HELP Committee, provided the majority view of the U.S.

Senate; and Chad Aldeman, associate partner at Bellwether Education Partners, a Washington, D.C.­

based think tank, provided a view from the nonprofit educational research sector.

The Southern Legislative Conference (SLC) of The Council of State Governments was established in

1947 and is composed of the presiding officers and key legislators from 15 southern states. The SLC

is a non-partisan, non-profit organization located in Atlanta, Georgia.