Cornyn Discusses Plans For Education Reform Legislation

Cornyn Discusses Plans For Education Reform Legislation

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, and U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) on Monday outlined education reform legislation they plan to introduce this month that would give more decision-making power to parents and teachers. The remarks come as the nation marked the fifth anniversary of No Child Left Behind.

"Today, as we mark the fifth anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act, it is appropriate once again to focus on the issue of true educational reform," Sen. Cornyn said in remarks at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank. "True to our founder's vision, that means moving the decision-making power out of Washington and closer to parents and teachers. It also means cutting the red tape and bureaucracy that, kudzu-like, seems to ensnarl the best of intentions by central planners. We must liberate parents and teachers in each of our states to achieve superior educational results, while at the same time eliminating the regulatory burden that invariably attends Washington control."

Sens. Cornyn and DeMint plan to introduce the Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success (A-PLUS) Act of 2007 this month. The bill will give states the option to restore flexibility as long as they continue to establish accountability standards and achieve results.

--Below is the text of Sen. Cornyn's remarks at the Heritage Foundation--

A PLUS (Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success)
Heritage Foundation, January 8, 2006

A federal, as opposed to a national, government was deemed by our founding fathers to be more conducive to individual liberty, and yet would allow the new nation the essential powers it needed to govern itself. What better way to secure individual rights than to divide political power between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the federal government, and between the state and local governments, as well? Even before the Bill of Rights was actually embraced by the founding generation, it was this system of checks and balances and divided powers upon which the framers relied for the protection of individual liberties.

Then, of course, there was the added practical benefit of the common sense notion—government that is closest to the people is far more likely to be responsive to the people's needs and desires.

Thomas Jefferson put it this way: "The way to have safe government is not to trust it all to the one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to everyone exactly the functions in which he is competent…. [B]y placing under everyone what his own eye may superintend, that all will be done for the best."

I'm delighted to be here at the Heritage Foundation once again, along with my colleague, Sen. DeMint. Let me publicly acknowledge Jim DeMint's leadership on this important issue, and particularly on the Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success (A-PLUS) Act of 2007, which we're talking about today. Jim, I'm very proud to be working with you on this important legislation.

Today, as we mark the fifth anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act, it is appropriate once again to focus on the issue of true educational reform. True to our founder's vision, that means moving the decision-making power out of Washington and closer to parents and teachers. It also means cutting the red tape and bureaucracy that, kudzu-like, seems to ensnarl the best of intentions by central planners. We must liberate parents and teachers in each of our states to achieve superior educational results, while at the same time eliminating the regulatory burden that invariably attends Washington control.

**

For more than 40 years, Washington, DC has been sending money to the states through 700 Washington-based education programs. In the last five years alone, spending in K-12 outside of Washington has risen an unprecedented 25 percent. And yet, America continues to fall behind, both competitively and academically, in our global economy and compared to other public education systems around the world. This is not an indictment of our colleges and universities, which rate among the finest and most sought-after in the world. Rather, it is our K-12 education system that all too often fails our children and risks consigning the next generation—and beyond—a diminished standard of living.

Consider the implications of this single statistic: China graduates four times as many engineers as we do, and within a few years approximately ninety percent of all scientists and engineers in the world will live in Asia.

We all know that countries that can educate and train the best and brightest have an advantage over other countries. In America, surely every child deserves the advantage achieved by a first-class education.

That is what brings us here today. Too often what passes for educational reform results in mandated bureaucracy in education, thus creating a spider's web of federal regulations with which the states are required to contend. In Florida alone, Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R.) has observed: "Though the federal contribution to education in Florida is small, only about seven percent of total spending, it takes more than 40 percent of the state's education staff to oversee and administer federal dollars." In fact, he estimates that the federal regulatory requirements are so onerous that "six times as many people are required to administer a federal education dollar as are required [to administer] a state dollar."

"Imagine," he said, "what our states could do if we could spend more of our time and energy working to improve student achievement, rather than tediously complying with a dizzying array of federal rules."

By allowing states the flexibility and freedom to establish their own guidelines, we open the door to greater innovation and creativity in educating the 50 million children in our public school system. It will allow the states to choose the programs that best serve their students' needs, and it will empower parents and teachers, giving them greater influence in what happens in classrooms across America everyday.

The A-PLUS Act of 2007 will revitalize our education system in American by wisely applying the lessons of federalism, this time in an education context. In other words, this legislation intends to take the emphasis off the process and place it where it belongs: on educational results.

**

My home state of Texas provides a good example of what the well-intended results of No Child Left Behind have been when it comes to the burgeoning bureaucracy, and overlays on our state system. And by the way, this should come as no surprise given our President's passion for education—when he was governor, Texas became one of the first states to establish a standards-based system under then-Governor Bush.

So before No Child Left Behind, Texas already had a strong accountability system. After No Child Left Behind passed, we then required teachers and administrators in Texas to implement an entirely new set of regulations on top of their already successful state-mandated system. And that's just one example.

Since its involvement in K-12 education, the federal government has consistently mandated larger and more intricate bureaucracy in education. Of course this is likely not what was intended, but if you think about it, increased bureaucracy and red tape are an inherent part of the package whenever Washington, rather than local folks, including parents, is in control. Now, on this fifth anniversary of No Child Left Behind, it is time to restore to the states and to local control, the freedom and responsibility to achieve desired results, without the Washington-mandated baggage of the status quo. That is where such responsibility belongs.

Thank you for the opportunity to join you here today.

http://cornyn.senate.gov/index.asp?f=record&lid=1&yid=1&rid=237281&pg=1