I spent Sunday through Tuesday at the FRN (Federal Relations Network) conference in Washington, D.C. As a branch of NSBA (National School Boards Association), FRN provides an opportunity to learn a lot more about education issues from the federal perspective, and a chance to meet with our national representatives.

Tuesday morning, two of us from the 5th Congressional District met with an aide to John Peterson for about 20 minutes, and the entire Pennsylvania delegation had the opportunity to have breakfast with Senator Casey.

The most important education issue that Congress may, or may not, deal with this year is the re-authorization of No Child Left Behind. There is a broad awareness on both sides of the aisle that NCLB has a lot of problems in its current form. NSBA supports HR 648, which addresses many of these problems, and which is currently co-sponsored by 9 Republicans and 9 Democrats. The question is whether Congress has the energy and inclination to deal with a very political issue in an election year.

Depending on this fall’s outcome, it is quite possible that NCLB will be completely over-hauled or scrapped entirely, and some in Washington would prefer to just wait and see what happens. But failing to address this issue now would mean that school districts would be stuck with the current legislation, with all its flaws, for at least another year.

There were other conference highlights. First of all: how about those Giants?

The "Capitol Steps" ensemble was sensational. Among the skits: Justices Breyer, Souter, Stevens and Ginsburg dancing and singing about the importance of "Staying Alive" (think Bee Gees), and Larry Craig's rendition of "Tap Three Times" (Tony Orlando and Dawn). Political correctness is not their strong suit. If you've never had an opportunity to see Capitol Steps, consider this a strong recommendation.

We also got a guided tour of the Capitol building, arranged by the Representative’s office - also highly recommended.

Even so, I was most impressed by Senator Chuck Hagel's (R-Nebraska) address on Monday afternoon. He spoke about how little has been accomplished in Washington on long-term issues, and that if you want to find solutions, how necessary it is to "govern from consensus". As he said: "Success in politics not defined by tactical wins; it is defined by whether you are making the world better."

I really like this guy.

I consider our board’s support for FRN an important act of good citizenship. NSBA is probably one of the few non-partisan organizations in Washington, and as such ought to be considered a prime resource on national educational issues. Many of the problems associated with NCLB can be directly attributed to the fact that so little input was received from those closest to the issue. Kind of like the GCAs.