Politico discusses the state plans to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act and raises the question:

Why are these uninformed, distant, unqualified people allowed to tell schools what to do?

Betsy DeVos and everyone she has appointed hates public schools. Why should they be trusted to give them instructions? Left to her own devices, DeVos would cripple public schools with regulations and mandates intended to drive students to unregulated charters and religious schools. Nothing qualifies this woman for the position she holds. She knows nothing about public schools, nothing about instruction, nothing about teaching. She was put there by Trump and Pence to destroy our public schools.

“HOUSE TACKLES ESSA IMPLEMENTATION TODAY: The House Education and the Workforce Committee this morning will hear from federal, state and local officials on their efforts to carry out the Every Student Succeeds Act. “Given the monumental shift in education policy represented by ESSA, it is important that we hear how implementation is progressing,” Chairwoman Virginia Foxx is expected to say . “We know the law will not fully take effect until the coming school year, and we will need time to assess its impact on schools and students. However, I look forward to hearing from today’s witnesses about the progress states, school districts, and the Department of Education are making.”

– While the hearing will primarily focus on state and local implementation of the law, Foxx is also expected to say that the committee will be watching the Education Department for any signs of overreach. The hearing comes as Secretary Betsy DeVos’ agency is under fire for its feedback on state ESSA plans. Some advocates and state education chiefs believe federal officials haven’t been consistent in their feedback or they’ve been reading the law too strictly, limiting the flexibility that was promised to states since ESSA’s passage in 2015. Senate HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander said last week that Jason Botel, acting assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, “hasn’t read the law carefully.” Botel should nix the back-and-forth with states over their plans, Alexander said.

– GAO will release a report in conjunction with the hearing, called, “Early Observations on State Changes to Accountability Systems.” Jacqueline Nowicki, director of K-12 education policy at GAO, is expected to say that some states are using the law’s flexibility “to significantly change their accountability systems while others are making more limited changes,” according to prepared testimony obtained by POLITICO. The Education Department is also trying to determine “whether there is a need for additional guidance to states on aspects of ESSA implementation,” Nowicki will say. Democrats and some advocates believe additional guidance is sorely needed, since Republicans earlier this year scrapped the Obama administration’s ESSA accountability regulations.

– A lack of “clear regulations” has presented “challenges,” Phillip Lovell, vice president of policy and government relations for the advocacy group Alliance for Excellent Education is expected to say . The Education Department’s feedback to states on their plans has proven “confusing” and “insufficient.” This isn’t good because “the quality of ESSA state plans is uneven,” Lovell will say, stressing that the department should play a stronger and more consistent oversight role. “There are certainly some strengths” in state plans, he’ll say, “but there are missed opportunities and many weaknesses, including proposals that are inconsistent with the law.”