WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) released the following statement after voting to support cloture and final passage of the Every Child Achieves Act, the Senate’s version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The bill includes an amendment written by Senator Coons and Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) based on their American Dream Accounts legislation.

“Every child in every American public school deserves a high-quality education, regardless of background and zip code,” said Senator Coons. “The Every Child Achieves Act makes important strides to improve America’s public schools, and I commend Senators Patty Murray and Lamar Alexander for their tireless work to find common ground on this urgent issue. This bill corrects much of what went wrong with No Child Left Behind, and I’m thrilled that my American Dream Accounts amendment, which will help at-risk students reach their dreams of going to college, was included.”

“However, I remain deeply concerned that this bill, as it is currently written, does not provide sufficient accountability for our public school system. Though I supported the bill today, I will not support the final bill unless accountability provisions are strengthened in negotiations between the House and Senate. This process is not over, and I’m optimistic that we can still improve this bill so that it strikes the right balance between federal oversight and local flexibility.

“We’ve made significant progress in recent years to improve our public school system, due in part to a bipartisan, national commitment to raising the bar for all of America’s children. We cannot allow ourselves to lower it once again.”