Every Child Achieves Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, in my home State of Washington and across the country, students and parents and teachers and communities are counting on us to finally fix No Child Left Behind. I have been very glad to work with Chairman Alexander on our bipartisan bill called the Every Child Achieves Act. Our bipartisan bill gives States more flexibility while also including Federal guardrails to make sure all students have access to a quality public education.

I am very proud of the bipartisan work we have done on the Senate floor--debating amendments, taking votes, and making this good bill even better. It is not the bill I would have written on my own, and I am sure it is not the bill Chairman Alexander would have written on his own, but it is a good, strong step in the right direction. And it is not the last opportunity, of course, we will have to work on this bill before it is signed into law. In fact, after the Senate passes the bill today, we will go to conference, and then I will be looking forward to working closely with their ranking member, Bobby Scott, with the administration, and with Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate who are interested in building on the Senate's bipartisan work and getting this done. I hope Chairman Kline and House Republicans will be willing to join us at the table to reach an agreement on the final product that works for our kids and our parents and our schools and our communities across the country.

Strengthening accountability is extremely important to me and to Ranking Member Scott. Democrats, including 42 of our Senate Democrats, voted for Senator Murphy's accountability amendment yesterday. It is also important to the administration. We will continue to push for that in conference.

We still have more work to do today before we wrap up and vote on final passage. The senior Senator from Pennsylvania has offered an amendment to expand access to high-quality early education. That is being offered by Senator Casey. Making sure kids can start kindergarten ready to learn is one of the best investments I believe we can make to help our kids succeed in school and later in life. I urge my colleagues to vote for that amendment when it comes up for a vote shortly. Then, of course, we will have a number of other amendments and finally passage, and hopefully we will be able to reach that in a positive way today.

Mr. President, I said this many times on the Senate floor, but it bears repeating to emphasize how important education is for the future of this country. Providing a quality education isn't just good for students today, it is an investment in our future workforce, it is an investment in our future economy, and it is an investment in a growing strong middle class that will help our country grow stronger. As we all know, across the country today, parents, students, and teachers in our communities are looking to us to fix No Child Left Behind.

So, again, I commend Senator Alexander for his strong work on this, for his willingness to work on a bipartisan basis and get us to where we are today, to be able to look very soon to passing the bill out of the Senate and continuing our work to fix this broken law.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I yield the floor.

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, when all students have the chance to learn, we strengthen our future workforce. Our country grows stronger. We empower the next generation of Americans to lead the world. We create more opportunities for more families, and we help the economy grow from the middle out, not the top down.

But today, across the country, stark educational inequalities exist. The students in some schools simply don't have the same opportunity to graduate college-and-career ready like other students do. In our country, all students should have access to a quality public education, no matter where they live, how they learn, or how much money their parents make.

So that is why I am glad our bipartisan bill to fix No Child Left Behind has Federal protections to hold schools accountable for educating all students. And I will continue to fight for stronger protections as the bill moves forward.

But educating all students is a tall order if schools don't have the very resources that help students succeed. That is why it is so important to make sure States address inequalities in resources. Senators KIRK, REED, BALDWIN, and BROWN offered a bipartisan amendment that would help schools and States address persistent inequalities in resources and opportunities. I strongly urged my colleagues to support it.

Students do better in school when they have access to a well-rounded education. That includes rigorous coursework that helps prepare students for a college curriculum. It includes offering classes like arts, music, physical education, and STEM education. It includes setting up effective school library programs that can inspire in kids a love for reading. Those classes and those programs create a school environment where students can learn and thrive.

But too many students across the country do not have access to those critical resources. And too often, it is students of color, kids with disabilities, English-language learners, and students from low-income backgrounds who have the least access to resources that can help them get ahead.

Take experienced teachers, for example. Students of color are more likely to have a teacher who is new to the profession. These students often don't have access to advanced classes and classes like art and music. Students of color are more likely than their White peers to go to a high school that does not offer AP classes. In fact, 20 percent of African-American high schoolers go to a high school that does not offer AP classes. And in 2008, White students were twice as likely to have access to arts education as African-American and Hispanic students.

The same inequality exists for access to technology. Students from low-income backgrounds often don't have access to the Internet or to computers, compared to their peers. A study from Stanford University put this into sharp focus. The researchers asked teachers if their students have the digital tools they need to effectively complete assignments at home. More than half of teachers from more affluent schools said yes. But just 3 percent of teachers from high-poverty schools said their students had access to tools like computers and the Internet.

All of this inequality holds students back. It widens achievement gaps. It robs students of the chance to learn and excel in the classroom. And we need to do something about it, so all students have the opportunity to learn.

We have made important progress in the Every Child Achieves Act. Under the current bill, school districts will already be required to report on: access to safe and healthy school environments, per-pupil expenditures, access to advanced coursework, the number of children enrolled in preschool, and teacher qualifications. And that is a good step in the right direction.

But this bipartisan amendment would take the next step. First, it would expand the list of resource indicators to include things like access to art and music and dedicated school library programs. And it would give States a choice on which resources will be the most meaningful in their communities.

Most importantly, this amendment would help States remedy opportunity gaps across school districts. It does this by requiring States to create a plan to improve access to resources in the schools that lack those tools. And because the plans will be designed by the States and must include input from the communities, these plans will be tailored to fit the needs of local school districts. And States would be required to disaggregate the data on how resources are distributed by income, race, language proficiency, and disability. That will shine a light on if some groups of students are not getting the kinds of opportunities as others. And it will help parents know which resources their local schools offer and where the gaps are.

In short, this amendment will help strengthen our commitment to providing a quality education to all students. This amendment is also important for another key reason. Of course, nearly everyone agrees that the current law, No Child Left Behind, is badly broken. And one of the main reasons is that it placed an almost singular focus on test scores for reading and math. But test scores do not paint the whole picture of how a school is performing.

This amendment would give parents and communities a more holistic view to determine if a school is providing a quality learning environment for all students. And most importantly, this will help States focus resources on traditionally underserved populations so they will get the supports they need to succeed.

Now, some of my Republican colleagues have argued that we don't need this amendment because States and school districts should be responsible for solving resource disparities. But for too long, States and school districts have gotten off the hook for stark inequality. That is why we have seen the persistent inequality of some schools simply not getting the resources they need to help their students succeed. And that needs to end.

This amendment would not tell States how to address inequality. But it would require them to identify the disparities that exist and to create a plan to address them. That is why this amendment would be a good step in the right direction.

I know that others have argued that simply reporting the disparities between resources would be enough. But acknowledging the problem won't necessarily solve the problem. And on something as important as ensuring that students have equal opportunities to succeed, we need action. And that is why I believe it is so important that this amendment would help States act to address inequalities.

This isn't just important for student success in the classroom. It has long-term implications for our country. When some students don't have the chance to graduate from high school college-and-career ready, we lose out on the full potential of our Nation's future workforce, entrepreneurs, and leaders. In the years to come, our economy will rely on the students of today being able to take on and create the jobs of the 21st century economy. We can help States and school districts make sure all students have the resources that defines a quality education by supporting this bill and this amendment. These resources are fundamental to student success--in school and in the future. So I urge my colleagues to support this amendment to address resources equity.

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I first want to thank Chairman Alexander for working with me on the Every Child Achieves Act. He has been a great partner in getting us to this point with this bill. This process started when he and I agreed that No Child Left Behind is badly broken and needs to be fixed. Our bill, the Every Child Achieves Act, is an important step forward to do just that.

The current law overemphasized test scores. Our bill will give States flexibility to use multiple measures, not just test scores, to determine how well a school is performing. Our bill also eliminates the one-size-fits-all provisions of No Child Left Behind that have been so damaging for our schools and our districts. Instead, it allows our communities, our parents, and our teachers to work together to improve schools and ensure that every child can get a well-rounded education.

Our bill maintains Federal protections to help students graduate from high school with the tools they need to compete and lead in the 21st century economy. This is a good bill. I will keep working, of course, to make it better--even after our vote today--in conference.

I hope we can continue to build on the Senate's strong bipartisan work. I will continue to push to strengthen the accountability measures in our bill and address inequality in schools. But today I urge my colleagues to vote to pass the Every Child Achieves Act that will give all students the chance to learn and grow and thrive. Let's fix No Child Left Behind. Let's prove that Congress can break through gridlock and work together. Let's pass this bill for students, parents, teachers, and communities across the country.

I yield the floor.

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I recently heard from a teacher in Seattle by the name of Lyon Terry. Over the course of his 17-year career, he has taught second, third, and fourth grade. What makes Mr. Terry a great teacher is the way he engages with his students. He starts the morning by playing songs on his guitar. He keeps his students laughing with jokes, and every day he tries to create an environment where kids want to come to school.

Last year, he was named Washington State Teacher of the Year for 2015. This week, Mr. Terry has been following our debate on the Senate floor, and he was truly hoping we would pass this bill because he says the current law doesn't reflect the work he and his fellow teachers at Lawton Elementary School are doing every day.

So let me echo the words of the chairman of our committee and the majority leader. I am proud today that the Senate passed a bill to fix No Child Left Behind for teachers like Mr. Terry, for parents, for communities, and most importantly for our students--a bill to continue our mission of delivering on the promise of providing every child with the best our Nation can provide.

I have been very proud to partner with Chairman Alexander on the Every Child Achieves Act, and I want to thank him tremendously for the successful bipartisan process we have had. I want to thank all our colleagues on the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions for their work and dedication in moving this bill forward. And, of course, I want to thank the staff as well--both my staff and the staff of Senator Alexander--for all of their hard work. They have worked many, many, many long days and late nights and weekends to get us to this point today.

I will submit a full list of names later, but there are some staffers in particular I want to recognize. On Senator Alexander's staff, I want to acknowledge and thank his staff director David Cleary, as well as Lindsey Seidman, Peter Oppenheim, and Lindsay Fryer. They have done an excellent job. On my staff, I want to acknowledge and thank my staff director Evan Shatz, and my education policy director Sarah Bolton for their outstanding leadership, as well as Amanda Beaumont, Leanne Hotek, Allie Kimmel, Aissa Canchola, Ariel Evans, Jake Cornett, Leslie Clithero, Aurora Steinle, Helen Hare, and Mary Robbins. Thank you for all of your hard work on this important bill.

I, too, want to thank our floor staff on our side, Gary Myrick, Tim Mitchell, Tricia Engle, and all our floor staff--Republican and Democratic--for their help and guidance. We couldn't be here without them.

I want to take a step back for a moment to look at the work we have done so far and the work that remains even beyond the vote we had today.

Of course, nearly everyone agrees No Child Left Behind is badly broken. That goes almost without saying. I have heard it from so many parents, teachers, and administrators in Washington State--Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. They are sick and tired of the broken law in front of us. They want Congress to fix it, and they do not want us to wait any longer.

That is why I am so proud our bill, the Every Child Achieves Act, is a strong step in the right direction to finally fix the broken No Child Left Behind law and make sure all of our students have access to a high-quality public education.

For one, our bill addresses high-stakes testing. The current law overemphasizes test scores to measure how students are doing in school. Our bill will give flexibility to States to use multiple measures, not just test scores, to determine how well a school is performing. These steps will reduce the pressure on students, teachers, and parents so they can focus less on test prep and more on learning.

Our bill eliminates the one-size-fits-all provisions of No Child Left Behind that have been so damaging for our schools and our districts. Instead, it allows communities and parents and teachers to work together to improve their schools and ensure that every child gets a well-rounded education. Our bill maintains Federal protections to help students graduate from high school college- and career-ready.

When the education committee debated the bill, I was very proud to work on a bipartisan amendment with Senator Isakson to expand and improve on early learning programs. As a former preschool teacher, I have seen the kind of transformation early learning can inspire in a child. So I am very glad this bill will help us expand access to high-quality early childhood education so more kids can start kindergarten ready to learn.

I have also seen fixing the current law as a multistage process. At the beginning of this year, as the chairman said, he released his discussion draft for reauthorizing ESEA. After that, the two of us had a conversation about a path as to how to move forward. Instead of going down a partisan path and letting politics become our guide, we agreed to work together to find common ground. We agreed to do everything we could to put our students first, to put the families and communities we represent first, to break through the gridlock and dysfunction that too often paralyzes this Congress, and to chart a path to fix a broken law.

I again want to commend my partner Chairman Alexander for sticking to that approach. He is a role model for all of us, and I appreciate all he is doing. The result is our Every Child Achieves Act. It wasn't the bill I would have written on my own, I know it isn't the bill he would have written on his own, but it is what is called a compromise. It is a strong bill that all sides can be proud of.

After we negotiated our bipartisan compromise in April, we passed our bill out of committee with a unanimous vote--12 Republicans, 10 Democrats. So I want to thank all of our Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee members who worked to improve and strengthen this bill in committee and all the Members--Democrats and Republicans on our committee and off--who wrote the dozens of amendments we included in our substitute and managers' packages, and all those who brought their ideas to the floor and debated and voted on them over the past week on the Senate floor.

Today, I am very proud we have passed this bill with a strong bipartisan vote. As we know, our work is not yet done. Now we begin the next phase. As Chairman Alexander has said throughout our floor debate, ultimately we need a bill President Obama will sign into law, and though this bill has taken a number of steps in the right direction, there are still a few more we need to do before our work is done. We have important work to do in conference to reach an agreement on a final bill.

The President has made it very clear to us he can only sign a bill that strengthens the accountability measures in the Every Child Achieves Act and that addresses inequality, where some schools are unable to offer the same opportunities as others. I agree that is a must, and I know I will continue to work hard, alongside ranking member Bobby Scott in the House and the administration, to make accountability and resource equity a priority in conference.

The only way forward is for the strong bipartisan work we have seen in the Senate to continue in that process. Now, I will say, unfortunately, so far, House Republicans chose a partisan approach to reauthorize this bill. Their bill doesn't represent one end and ours represents another, where we have to meet in the middle. Their bill really represents an unacceptable partisan approach and path and ours represents a carefully negotiated compromise with just a few important steps to go.

So I hope in conference our friends in the House, the House Republicans, will be ready to join House and Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans, and the administration as we work together to get this done in a way that works for all our students and families.

By working together, I am confident we can get this bill over the finish line and fix this broken law for our teachers in my home State and across the country and help make sure all our students have a quality education. Delivering on that promise of a good education for all students will pay off for generations to come. This is one of the best investments in our country we can make to ensure we have broad-based and long-term economic growth because, as we all know, when students have the chance to learn, we strengthen our future workforce. We know our country grows stronger and we empower the next generation of Americans to lead the world. We will help our economy grow from the middle out, not just the top down, and that is something we have known for a long time.

Fifty years ago, in what would be just months before signing the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act into law, President Johnson said, when it comes to education, ``nothing matters more for the future of our country.'' That is still true today. The future of our country hinges on our students' ability to one day lead the world.

So I am looking forward to our continued work on this Every Child Achieves Act for our students, for our parents, for our teachers, and for the future of our country.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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