Student Success Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, this would require that the
money that is appropriated under ESEA go to the purpose for which it
was appropriated, and that is education. This amendment focuses the
money and makes sure it goes to where it is supposed to go, and
therefore I support the amendment.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I have a number of concerns
regarding the amendment as it is currently drafted.
I would first note that the amendment gives great weight to the
``free exercise of religion'' without acknowledging the other half of
the First Amendment, and that is the Establishment Clause.
I am also concerned that the amendment is duplicative of previous
efforts under ESEA. In No Child Left Behind, section 9524 requires the
U.S. Department of Education to issue guidance on constitutionally
protected prayer in public elementary and secondary schools. This
guidance was developed with the Office of the General Counsel in the
Department of Education and with the Office of Legal Counsel in the
Department of Justice.
Mr. Chairman, I am also concerned that the amendment implies that
teachers can participate in religious activities with their students. The Constitution prohibits teachers from participating in religious activities with students when those teachers are acting in their professional capacity.
Public school employees simply do not have the ``right to make the
promotion of religion a part of their job description,'' says the
Supreme Court decision in 2007. A sense of Congress provision in this
bill will not override the Constitution.
I would remind my colleagues that religious freedom means not only
are students, teachers, and school administrators able to exercise
their right to religion, but also that the students should be able to
attend public schools free of unwarranted proselytization and coercion
in the participation of religious activities. The First Amendment is
reflective of that balance.
I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I
may consume, just to remind people that students ought to be able to
attend their public schools, free from unwarranted proselytization or
coercion.
We have the Establishment Clause, as well as the Free Exercise
Clause, and as public employees exercise their rights, they should not
violate a person's right to go to school and not be faced with a
phalanx of people all coercing him into joining in prayer.
The teachers and administrators ought not be guiding the prayer and
suggesting that the State has a particular religion. We have an
Establishment Clause, as well as a Free Exercise Clause.
I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. In closing, Mr. Chairman, it is a great sense
of Congress on the free exercise, but it ignores the Establishment
Clause.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for
yielding.
Early childhood education programs have been studied. Those high-
quality programs increase achievement, increase the graduation rates,
increase future employment, decrease crime, decrease teen pregnancy,
and, in the long term, save more money than they cost.
This amendment will help improve early childhood education and
therefore is a meaningful improvement in the bill, and I would hope we
would adopt this. It provides for professional improvement, a great
improvement in early childhood education.
Since it has been studied and so successful, I would hope we would
adopt the amendment.
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