The White House is planning on having reworked the No Child Left Behind laws that legislate education before most of America’s students go back to school in August. Unfortunately, this measure will have to have serious support from the Republican party as well as the Democrats, and they do not seem to be willing make it a priority.

They are hoping to make the laws more flexible than they have been in the past and also help Washington take a step backwards from controlling the standards and how they are set. Many teachers and schools believe that the White House has made strict laws that they can not regulate without knowledge of the schools themselves. They are hoping that not only will the regulations be relaxed in regards to standardized testing, but also that there will be more local control of these regulations.

The plan to have it done by the regular August recess hinges on Republican lawmakers agreeing to work on the laws. Republicans made it clear to the country that their top priorities were both increasing the number of jobs and fixing the economy. Even if they were on board with the Democrats, getting this type of legislation through by August is not likely to be feasible.

The president has told those in the White House that he believes redefining the federal government’s role in education through No Child Left Behind is top priority for him. The biggest problem with this would be that Obama wants a large rewrite of all of the No Child Left Behind laws. This takes time and money. Also, Republican law makers are more likely to approve new legislation if it is a series of small laws that make changes to old laws already enacted.