Penn Hill Group Principal Vic Klatt and Executive Vice President Alex Nock were quoted in a September 14 Education Week article titled, “GOP Senators Introduce Own ESEA Renewal Bills.”

“Alex Nock, who until recently served as a top aide for Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the ranking member of the House education committee, sees a lot of common ground between the GOP proposal and the Obama blueprint. Mr. Nock, now the executive vice president of Penn Hill Group, a government relations firm in Washington, said those similarities could limit the scope of policy prescriptions under discussion.

“Due to the bills’ similarities to the administrations’ blueprint, [the package] could force the political discourse on ESEA to narrow,” he said.

Vic Klatt, a former aide to Republicans on the House education committee, said the commonalities have left him wondering why Congress hasn’t been able to complete reauthorization.

“It sort of leads to the question of what is taking these guys so long. They’re not that far off,” said Mr. Klatt, who is now a principal at Penn Hill Group. “There are not that many huge differences here that can’t be resolved.”

But he added that he doesn’t expect to see ESEA reauthorized this year. “It’s too late in the process for ESEA to get through the Senate this year even if suddenly everything were to fall into place tomorrow,” he said.

The full article can be viewed on the Education Week website.