Department Of Labor, Health And Human Services, And Education, And Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008
Floor Speech
DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (House of Representatives - July 18, 2007)
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(Mr. COLE of Oklahoma asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. COLE. Madam Chairman, in the interest of time, I will be brief.
Madam Chairman, I rise in support of the Moore amendment to the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education bill.
This amendment, which would defund the evaluation component of the Department of Education's absolute priority, is crafted to spare our teachers from choosing between two values that should never be in conflict, following their Nation's laws and tending to their students' well-being.
I know Oklahoma educators well, and I can tell you that Oklahoma educators are honorable people. If there is a law on the books, they will follow that law to its letter and spirit.
However, I believe that this particular law, that is the Department of Education's absolute priorities, is inconsistent with our teachers' obligation to do what's best for our students. The absolute priority evaluation component would have Upward Bound students recruit twice as many students as they are able to serve. Half of those students would then be directed away from TRIO, becoming a control group to prove or disprove TRIO's effectiveness.
In short, we would raise these children's hope and then use them as guinea pigs to test our own theories and ideas. That's dishonest, it's cynical and it's wrong. I have no question in my mind about the outcome of such an experiment. TRIO would prove to be what it is, one of the most successful ways to encourage and support disadvantaged first-generation college students.
Yet even in the best-case scenario, where TRIO has proven successful, Upward Bound programs across the country would be left with a group of students that would never be able to use their services.
I oppose changing Upward Bound in order to recruit students into the program that could not receive help, giving on the one hand, and taking away with the other. We should aim to put our students and teachers in a position for success, and I believe that we will do so with the passage of the Moore amendment.
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