Student Success Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate this opportunity
to advocate for my amendment to H.R. 5, the Student Success Act.

My amendment is based on the principle that strong oversight of
taxpayer dollars should be the utmost priority for any Federal agency,
including the Department of Education. I know my colleagues have strong
and varied opinions--as has been exhibited on this floor over the past
few hours--on the merits of this bill or not, but as this amendment
comes forward, I would ask that we look at the accountability factor
that is in this amendment.

As the husband of an educator, education has long been a priority in
my family. My wife's experiences have also given me a firsthand look at
the challenges teachers face when school resources are tight. Some
school districts in northeast Georgia and all over the country often
struggle to make ends meet. They have to hold each other and every
member of their staffs accountable for the money they spend.

I think it is time we apply this same commonsense principle to the
Department of Education. When fiscal responsibility and oversight are
not taken seriously, we lose opportunities to help educators and
students. When the Federal Government is a good steward of public
funds, we have more resources to direct to good initiatives that will
actually make a difference in classrooms across the country. My
amendment seeks to protect the Department of Education's limited
resources by ensuring that recipients of taxpayer-funded grants are
aware of their responsibilities.

Now, understanding I personally believe that the Department of
Education's role should continue to be reduced and that States and
locals are the best place to do this, but as long as there is money
going to the Department of Education, it should be an utmost
responsibility of responsibility and accountability.

My amendment requires that the Secretary of Education ensure that
each grantee and subgrantee is aware of three things: first, their
responsibility to comply with all the monitoring requirements under
their applicable program; second, the grantee's obligation to properly
supervise any subgrantee; and third, the Secretary's schedule for
monitoring and compliance reviews to ensure proper use of Federal
funds.

Making sure all grantees have this information will discourage abuse
and remove the grantee's excuse that they just did not know what would
be required of them when they accepted taxpayer dollars.

My amendment also requires the Secretary to review and analyze the
results of monitoring and compliance reviews to understand trends,
identify common issues, and issue guidance before the loss or misuse of
taxpayer funding. The Secretary would also make public their agency's
effort to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse, including specific cases in
which the Secretary found and prevented the misuse of taxpayer funds.

Finally, my amendment requires the Secretary to work with the
agency's Office of Inspector General to ensure that the appropriate
Department of Education employees understand how to properly monitor
grantees and guide grantees in the overseeing of subgrantees.

This is a straightforward amendment designed to improve transparency,
increase communication between the Department of Education and grant
recipients, and ultimately ensure the Federal Government ensures good
stewardship of taxpayer dollars. The extra layer of accountability
provides this amendment will ensure that grants of all sizes are used
well and that students and taxpayers will get the most benefit for
their buck.

Educators in Georgia and across the Nation understand the importance
of protecting the limited resources we have to help kids in and out of
the classroom. The least the Department of Education can do is put the
policies in place to prevent the abuse of taxpayer dollars by grantees
and make sure that the grant recipients know all of the reporting
requirements and guidelines concerning their taxpayer funds.

With that, I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will
support this simple, commonsense transparency amendment.

I would like to express my thanks to the chairman and the committee
for their work on this bill and others.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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