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Sen. Bennet aims to work with GOP

During visit to Durango, he discusses No Child Left Behind
Bennet

Sen. Michael Bennet said he’ll continue to work with Republicans on legislation as the GOP takes control of the U.S. Senate in January.

“We’re just going to continue to do that now that we’re in the minority, and they’re in the majority,” said Bennet, a Democrat elected in 2010.

Bennet has cosponsored several bills with Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who will take over as chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

Bennet covered several topics Friday in a meeting with local education officials and The Durango Herald’s editorial board.

He chimed in on the controversy surrounding Sony’s move to pull back “The Interview,” after threats that have been linked to North Korea.

“There is no precedent for this,” Bennet said. “I’m not going to criticize Sony’s decision, but I will agree ... that we can’t let our daily life be dictated by North Korea.”

Bennet also discussed the coming debate about reauthorizing No Child Left Behind in 2015. The landmark education bill has awaited reauthorization since 2007.

“I hope that we can reauthorize it, and I hope we will reauthorize it,” Bennet said. He added that the bill should have room for flexibility and innovation.

Superintendent Dan Snowberger of Durango School District 9-R said lawmakers need to decide if the purpose of testing is individual accountability or accountability of systems. He also discussed how No Child Left Behind categorizes groups of students.

Many 9-R students perform well on the tests, but some of the subgroups do not, Snowberger said.

“If you look at our minority students, if you look at our free-and-reduced lunch students, we are not performing as well,” he said.

Bennet indicated he would support continued assessments.

“I’m not sure how you measure growth in the absence of annual (tests),” he said.

cslothower@durangoherald.com



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