Accountability for Charter Schools

Floor Speech

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Ms. TLAIB. Madam Speaker, for far too long for-profit charter schools have operated without accountability. Without the necessary oversight for charter schools, our children will continue to suffer while taxpayers bankroll charter school fraud, waste, and abuse.

I know our children deserve better, and this is why this week I am introducing the Charter Oversight, Accountability, and Transparency Act, which we call the COAT Act. I am doing this with Representative Bowman and Representative Wilson to help strengthen our country's public education system by promoting the same type of accountability from charter schools nationwide that the law requires of our public school systems.

Charter schools are publicly funded, Madam Speaker, but are managed by private charter management organizations. This bill would require these management organizations to file financial disclosures to the Department of Education in order to receive Federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act funds.

Michigan's experiment with charters has led to a system of poor-run schools for for-profit companies, failing thousands of our students. The COAT Act is commonsense legislation that will increase transparency and accountability to ensure that charter schools provide necessary information to local, State, and Federal agencies to detect and prevent fraud and abuse. Ending Auto Insurance Discrimination

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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, I don't know what our education level, marital status, or credit scores have to do with how much our auto insurance rates should be. The Prohibit Auto Insurance Discrimination Act, PAID Act, that I introduced with Congresswoman Watson Coleman, who has led this effort, as well as Congressman Takano, would end insurance discrimination.

It would prohibit auto insurance companies from using our education levels, occupation, employment status, credit scores, previous insurer information, ZIP Code, census tracts, or homeownership status in insurance rating or underwriting decisions.

Auto insurance discrimination continues to keep our residents in the cycle of poverty, Mr. Speaker.

Your education level, ZIP Code, and marital status don't determine whether or not you are a good driver; neither does your credit score. Yet our neighbors, especially in Detroit, regularly face higher auto insurance rates than other folks.

Someone with a perfect driving record--no tickets, crashes, or claims--who has poor credit can pay hundreds of thousands of dollars more for auto insurance, sometimes twice as much. I read somewhere that somebody with a DUI, drinking under the influence, with a higher credit score was paying three times less than someone with a lower credit score but no DUI violation.

We must stop the predatory discrimination practices by auto insurance companies. This is why I urge my colleagues to support the PAID Act to help level the playing field and eliminate factors, proxies to discriminate, that contribute to our growing inequality. Honoring Ruth Ellis

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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, during Pride Month, I honor a trailblazer in our community, Mother Ruth Ellis, a former Detroit resident who was the oldest surviving open lesbian and an LGBTQ+ rights activist.

She was born in 1899, living until the age of 101. She came out as a lesbian around 1915. She took in unhoused LGBTQ+ youth, and her home became known as a refuge for LGBTQ+ young people. We now lovingly call it the Ruth Ellis Center.

Not only did she give shelter to our young people but provided books, food, even assistance with college education. Around 40 percent of our unhoused youth today are LGBTQ+.

My team and I were proud to secure $1 million in Federal funding for the Ruth Ellis Center in our community to honor Mother Ruth Ellis and her lifesaving work. Mr. Speaker, the center provides safe, affordable, identity-affirming housing for those in need, especially, again, our LGBTQ+ young people.

This month, as we celebrate Pride Month, we recognize and honor the legacy of Ruth Ellis and the incredible advocacy of the Ruth Ellis Center and their team.

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