Location: The Heritage Foundation's Lehrman Auditorium

Forty-two years after the enactment of the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), Washington's educational involvement has done little to improve student achievement. What's worse, federal program applications and reporting requirements have distorted the focus of state education leadership by increasing bureaucracy. Schools should be answering to parents, not to Washington, D.C.

On the fifth anniversary of No Child Left Behind, Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Jim DeMint (R-SC) will outline their alternative for restoring state and local ownership of education policymaking while ensuring transparency about results and accountability to the real authorities – parents and taxpayers. Regaining respect for federalism, they argue, could be the key to unlocking promising education reforms and improved achievement across the country.