Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA) gaveled in Thursday’s Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee markup with laser-focused determination: to advance his 21st Century Dyslexia Act and honor his pledge to Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) by bringing to a vote a measure prohibiting the transfer of key U.S. Department of Education (ED) offices to other federal agencies. The Committee accomplished both goals. In a 13–9 vote, lawmakers advanced S. 5046, a bipartisan bill preventing the transfer of four critical divisions—the Office of Indian Education, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), and the Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE)— to other Federal agencies. Republican Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) joined a unified Democratic bloc to secure the bill's passage out of committee. “This bill is straightforward,” Collins said. “It keeps important landmark education programs at the Department of Education where Congress specifically put them and where they belong.” Under the leadership of Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the bill was successfully amended to include a requirement for the Secretary of Education to provide a cost analysis of each interagency agreement (IAA) to Congress and to provide quarterly reports to the Senate HELP and Appropriations Committees. In noting why this was necessary, Murray said, “Secretary McMahon is duplicating the work her Department was already [doing] by asking other agencies to do it instead and claiming somehow this makes government ‘more efficient.’ Fine. Prove it.” Murray also offered an amendment to prohibit the transfer of any ED office, and one to prohibit the move of the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to Justice; however, both were shot down by Republicans, including Collins who spoke in favor of OCR’s planned move. While HELP Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-LA) did not vote in favor of the bipartisan bill, he did discuss his alternative bill, the Special Education Administration Protection Act (S. 5038), which would prevent ED from moving OSERS to the Health and Human Services agency. Given the evident support for the bipartisan bill, Cassidy did not call S. 5038 forward. Following the favorable vote, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and other cabinet members sent a joint letter to congressional leadership defending the Administration's IAAs that transfer core education functions to other federal departments.

The Committee proceeded to discuss and favorably report several bills that seek to amend federal education laws including the Respond, Innovate, Succeed, and Empower Act (RISE) Act (S.3589) which passed unanimously, 22-0. RISE would amend the Higher Education Act to allow students with disabilities who matriculate into postsecondary education to use a valid Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or Section 504 Plan for documentation when seeking accommodations. HELP also passed the Reading Excellence and Achievement for Development (READ) Act (S. 4689) by a vote of 20-2. The bill amends the Comprehensive Literacy State Development Program in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by updating schools' access to literacy grants, mandating early reading screenings [where grants apply], and expanding teacher training and supports students at risk for dyslexia. Although the 21st Century Dyslexia Act (S. 3010) passed 12–10 with support from Senator John Hickenlooper (D CO) alongside Republicans, it faced notable opposition. Ranking Member Sanders (I-VT) spoke against the bill in his opening remarks and Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) filed two unvoted amendments to strike the bill entirely, echoing the disability community's concerns over creating a separate IDEA category for dyslexia and mandating IQ testing—a practice Congress rejected in 2004. Murphy highlighted national and state-level opposition: "No one I’ve met or spoken to wants this. In fact, my home state and 9 other states prohibit the use of IQ testing to identify dyslexia, 24 states permit IQ testing but do not require it, 10 states permit but discourage it, and 10 states do not allow districts to use it. So, Connecticut would have to change the law and use this method, a method which we got rid of federally in 2004." Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) also spoke against the bill. HELP also considered a handful of additional bills, however, with no major education legislation moving through the Senate, the future of the bills is unknown.

View the mark-up here.

Read Secretary McMahon’s letter here.