Every Child Achieves Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Ms. HIRONO. Mr. President, I rise to discuss the Every Child Achieves Act, S. 1177, which replaces the education law better known as No Child Left Behind. I wish to thank the HELP Committee Chairman Alexander and ranking member Patty Murray for their hard work on today's bipartisan compromise bill.

Today's Every Child Achieves Act isn't perfect, but it makes good progress. For years, I have heard from Hawaii's teachers, parents, and administrators that No Child Left Behind, or NCLB, is broken. It is time to leave NCLB behind.

I have been working to fix this broken law, first as a member of the House of Representatives' Education and Labor Committee in 2007 and now as a Senator. I also began to work on education reform when I was Lieutenant Governor of the State of Hawaii.

I will start with one of the biggest problems with NCLB, which is the testing requirements. I heard from teachers in Hawaii loud and clear that NCLB brought us too much testing. Teachers and students in some schools spent so much time on testing and test prep that they didn't have enough time for teaching and learning.

Today's bill includes Senator Baldwin's SMART Act legislation, which I cosponsored, to cut redundant State and local tests, and it also includes Senator Bennet's amendment that sets a cap on the percent of time spent on testing.

I also strongly support the early education parts of this program as negotiated by Senator Murray, herself a former preschool teacher. I urge my colleagues to expand on this work by also supporting the Strong Start for America's Children amendment led by Senators CASEY, MURRAY, myself, and others.

The Strong Start amendment would invest significant resources in high-quality preschool grant programs, which would serve some 16,000 Hawaii children in my State alone. It would expand early Head Start childcare partnerships, such as Hawaii's Parents And Children Together and Kama'aina Kids, and would strengthen the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program, supporting programs like the Hawaii Home Visiting Network.

Quality early education helps kids enter kindergarten ready to learn, a recipe for success in school and in life. Studies show that by age 3, there is a 30-million word gap, basically a 2-to-1 gap, between low-income children and their wealthier peers with regard to their language skills. Quality early education can help close this gap early. Kids then are more likely to succeed in school, avoid crime or teen pregnancy, graduate from high school and college, earn more income, pay more taxes, and need fewer public services. Why?

First, they have the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in a changing economy. Business and financial leaders in Hawaii--Hawaii's Business Roundtable executive director Gary Kai is a huge supporter of quality early education, and former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke also agrees that early childhood education is a key investment in U.S. competitiveness.

Second, military leaders have also stressed the importance of quality early education as a national security issue. The Department of Defense has estimated that 75 percent of Americans age 17 to 24 are ineligible for military service due to poor education, physical unfitness or criminal records. Hundreds of retired admirals and generals know that quality early learning can reverse this trend.

Third, early education investments make financial sense for taxpayers. A study by the University of Hawaii and Good Beginnings Alliance estimated a return of more than $4 for every $1 invested in early education. National studies are even higher. Some show a return as high as $17 for every $1 invested in quality early education. That depends, of course, on the quality of the program and particularly if we target the highest need students.

Finally, parents themselves are demanding quality, affordable preschool for their children. In April of this year, I visited Kauai Community College whose Early Childhood Development Center reopened after a few years of renovations.

This center trains early childhood educators while providing high-quality early learning services to children of faculty, staff, and the community. Their lead teacher and coordinator, Gina Medrano, said, ``So far, no one has cried since we opened. They only cry when it is time to go home.'' That is evidence of how important early education is to our kids themselves.

Currently, the KCC Center can only serve 20 children. There are wait-lists for this program and for quality early learning programs in Kauai, all across Hawaii, and nationwide. We can and should do much better.

The Strong Start for America's children amendment would help make early learning the national priority it deserves to be. The amendment would provide quality preschool to over 3 million children nationwide. I urge my colleagues to vote yes on this amendment when it comes to the floor.

So many of us recognize that education is a continuum which starts early and continues throughout life; therefore, coordination of effort is important. So I am pleased that this bill before us includes provisions to foster coordination between existing early childhood programs and their local elementary school. In 2011, Senator Casey and I introduced the Continuum of Learning Act, and today's bill on the floor includes many pieces from that legislation.

On balance, the Every Child Achieves Act before us means good progress for our keiki--our children--and I hope we can continue moving forward and pass the bill before us in a bipartisan way.

Our country is at its best when all students have access to high-quality education from birth to college and career. Improving our education system through evidence-based reforms will help every child achieve so that our next generation can compete and lead in the 21st-century global economy.

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