Harkin Meets with Obama, Duncan on Education Reform

Senator Tom Harkin

WASHINGTON – Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) released the following statement after meeting with President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan at the White House this morning to discuss education reform and the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.  They were joined at the meeting by HELP Committee Ranking Member Michael Enzi (R-WY), along with HELP Committee members Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN).

“Today’s meeting at the White House was a productive step in our work to fix the No Child Left Behind Act.  Over the past year, we’ve established important areas of bipartisan consensus, with the goal of creating a better and more flexible education system that prepares American students for success in college, careers and the 21st century global economy.

“In our meeting, we discussed the important opportunity we have to act quickly on these areas of agreement and advance our nation’s education system to better serve students.  I appreciate President Obama’s continued commitment to education reform, and look forward to working with him, Secretary Duncan and my colleagues in the coming months to rewrite this education law.”