Although Democrats and Republicans largely agree that No Child Left Behind, the largest federal education law, is a shambles, House Republicans and Senate Democrats have different ideas about how to revise the law. “It’s a matter of the conservative philosophy of localities and states being closest to the child and being empowered to best direct education dollars and decision-making versus a big-government philosophy that says this decision should increasingly be made by bureaucrats in Washington, [and] another federal program and another billion dollars will finally do the trick,” said Lindsey Burke, an education fellow at the DC-based Heritage Foundation. The Student Success Act (SSA), introduced by Rep. John Kline (R-Minnesota) and Todd Rokita (R-Indiana), chairmen of House education committees, aims to “restore local control, support more effective teachers, reduce the federal footprint, and empower parents,” says a committee press release. The bill is scheduled for markup—or...