Cornyn Discusses New Education Bill In Dallas

Press Release

Cornyn Discusses New Education Bill In Dallas

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn held a roundtable discussion with North Texas education leaders, teachers and students in Dallas on Thursday on his new bill to improve the No Child Left Behind Act. Sen. Cornyn recently introduced the A-PLUS Act, or Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success, to return decision-making power back to parents, teachers and local schools.

"We must move education decision-making out of Washington closer to where it belongs—with parents and teachers," Sen. Cornyn said. "States should be given the flexibility to design educational programs that fit the local needs of individual districts, parents and children. This bill will reduce the bureaucratic red tape that often stands in the way of results, accountability and superior schools."

Joining Sen. Cornyn for the roundtable at the Yvonne A. Ewell Townview Center, a magnet high school, were state education board members, school superintendents and students. Among the Independent School Districts represented were Dallas, Fort Worth, Allen, Denton, Keller, Lake Dallas and Weatherford. Also on hand for the discussion was the Texas Secondary Teacher of the Year, Nika Maples, of Keller ISD.

"This was a productive discussion, and I'm encouraged by the support from area school officials, who know best the importance of local control," Sen. Cornyn said. "I'll continue working to build momentum in Congress for this effort as we move closer to reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act."

The A-PLUS Act would give states flexibility to consolidate federal education programs and funding and redirect these resources to state education reform initiatives. Currently, the U.S. Department of Education limits states' ability to use federal education funds to only specific federal initiatives, an approach that has shown little progress in achievement. In exchange for the flexibility A-PLUS provides, states would be required to be transparent about academic results through annual reports and parental notification.

The current federal education system wastes resources on bureaucracy, regulations, and paperwork. According to the Office of Management and Budget, the No Child Left Behind Act increased the annual paperwork burden by 6,680,334 hours. Every hour that educators spend weeding through burdensome federal paperwork is an hour they cannot spend teaching children.

Under the A-PLUS Act:

* All states would have the option of establishing a 5-year Performance Agreement with the Secretary of Education.
* States could consolidate funds from a few or all of the federal education programs and redirect them to innovative programs created at the state level.
* In exchange for this flexibility, participating states would be required to meet their state performance objectives for improving student academic achievement and demonstrate a narrowing of achievement gaps.
* If a state fails to improve academic achievement, its Performance Agreement would be revoked and it would revert back to the NCLB system.
* Accountability and student achievement would remain a high priority with A-PLUS, but unlike NCLB, A-PLUS allows states to use a variety of innovative accountability programs.
* Transparency would be ensured by requiring states to submit annual reports on student progress to parents and taxpayers.

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