What does this have to do with the new Every Student Succeeds Act? The new law, a pronounced reaction to frustration with President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind law and perceptions of executive overreach by Education Secretary Arne Duncan and President Barack Obama as they placed various conditions on states as an alternative to No Child, basically gives states free rein when it comes to school accountability. States will still test students and at least pretend to do something about their very lowest performing schools, but that's about it. Democrats believe the secretary will have more authority to prod action on behalf of underserved students; Republicans don't. How the legislative language is interpreted during the regulatory process and possibly later by a judge will settle that. Regardless, the bottom line is that the new law is an enormous rollback of federal authority in elementary and secondary schools.