WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) released the following statement after the Republican-led Senate voted to use the Congressional Review Act to repeal the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) accountability regulations. The Department of Education’s rule provided states with additional local control of education while at the same time maintaining federal safeguards to ensure our most vulnerable students are not forgotten.

“The legislative process is broken when we are voting to peel back a measure that 85 senators supported when it first was approved by the Congress. Eighty five senators voted to support ESSA and agreed to the reasonable compromise of local control of education for federal safeguards. Today’s vote walks back that compromise, undermines federal civil rights safeguards, reduces local controls and places additional power in the hands of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos who has shown a resistance to meaningful federal oversight. Our children with disabilities, English language learners, students of color, and students attending low-performing schools all deserve a federal accountability system that protects their right to earn a high-quality education without being forgotten.”