Providing for Further Consideration of H.R. 8, North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act of 2015, and Providing for Consideration of the Conference Report On S. 1177, Student Success Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, Dr. Burgess, for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, as a child, my family's home didn't have electricity or running water. My parents, while dedicated and hardworking, were poor, with little formal education.

Fortunately, I was pushed by the right people, teachers and administrators, who wouldn't let me settle for less than my best. In the mountains of North Carolina, I learned firsthand the power of education and its vital role in the success of individual Americans.

Unfortunately, today's K-12 education system is failing our students. Decades of Washington's counterproductive mandates and the No Child Left Behind law have resulted in stagnant student achievement, disappointing graduation rates, and high school graduates entering college and the workforce without the knowledge and resources they need to succeed.

Parents and education leaders have lost much of their decisionmaking authority to Washington bureaucrats, and the Secretary of Education has bullied States into adopting the Obama administration's pet policies.

The rule we are debating now would provide for consideration of a conference committee agreement, the Every Student Succeeds Act, reauthorizing and reforming the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that would allow Congress finally to replace the No Child Left Behind.

As a grandmother, educator, and former school board member, I know students are best served when teachers, parents, and administrators are the driving force behind improving education. This agreement does just that by reducing the Federal footprint in the Nation's classrooms and restoring control to the people who know their students best.

The compromise Every Student Succeeds Act gets Washington out of the business of running schools. It protects State and local autonomy by prohibiting the Secretary of Education from coercing States into adopting Common Core or punishing them for abandoning it.

It also would place unprecedented restrictions on the authority of the Secretary of Education, preventing the Secretary from imposing new requirements on States and school districts through executive fiat, as President Obama's Department of Education has done repeatedly over the past 3 years.

The proposal eliminates the burdensome one-size-fits-all accountability system that has done

more to tie up States and school districts in red tape than to support local efforts to educate children. It also reduces the size of the Federal education bureaucracy by eliminating ineffective and duplicative Federal programs and requiring the Secretary of Education to reduce the Department's workforce accordingly.

If Congress were to fail to act, States would be forced to choose between the fundamentally flawed policies of No Child Left Behind, which double down on Federal programs, mandates, and spending, and the Obama administration's controversial temporary conditional waiver scheme, which has imposed the administration's preferred policies and heightened the level of uncertainty shared by States and school districts. America's students deserve better.

That is why I am so pleased today's agreement gives States a better chance to succeed by getting Washington out of their way. Our work has been validated by The Wall Street Journal, which stated that the bill would represent the largest evolution of Federal control to the States in a quarter century. It is far better than the status quo that would continue if nothing passes.

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Ms. FOXX. By reversing No Child Left Behind, one-size-fits-all micromanagement of classrooms, Congress is giving parents, teachers, and local education leaders the tools they need to repair a broken education system and help all children reach their potential. It is time to get Washington out of the way.

I encourage my colleagues to support this rule and the underlying conference committee agreement, the Every Student Succeeds Act.

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