Every Child Achieves Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Madam President, let me just state that this legislation before us is of vital national importance, and I would like to commend Chairman Alexander and Senator Murray for their commitment to an open and inclusive debate. They and their staffs have been unfailingly responsive, helpful, and thoughtful throughout the process. I was a long-standing member of the education committee, having served on the Education and Labor Committee in the other body, and on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee for 14 years in this body. And I have had the privilege of working with my colleagues over the last two reauthorizations of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

So, again, I must commend Senators ALEXANDER and MURRAY for the extraordinary work they have done and also my colleague Senator Whitehouse, who has been a major contributor to this effort. I am hopeful and confident, because of the leadership of Senators ALEXANDER and MURRAY, that we will reach a strong bipartisan outcome on this very important piece of legislation.

I appreciate the opportunity to continue to work with the committee on issues that are very important. The fair and equitable access to the core resources for learning, access to effective school library programs, professional development for teachers and principals, family engagement, and environmental education are all topics I think are critical, and I am very appreciative my colleagues also thought they were important and gave them very thorough and very fair consideration.

I am convinced, if you provide the resources, if you support teachers and principals and you engage families, students will thrive. This legislation reflects that perspective, and I appreciate that very much.

Our challenges and our responsibilities are to create and support learning environments that enable young people to hone their talents, discover their skills, and pursue their passions. In some respects, education is about finding a child's talent--letting them find their talent. If you do that, then stand back, they will do wonderful things for themselves, their communities, and this Nation.

In fact, our Nation is very much dependent upon education to achieve our noblest ideals. As we create educational opportunities for all, we fulfill the basic aspiration of this country. While we know we still have work to do, I am very pleased at the work that has been done so far by the committee.

We are closing the gaps in high school graduation between minority and other students--majority students--but college education gaps are widening, and that is something that must be addressed. The debate we begin today is vital because the Elementary and Secondary Education Act is not just about elementary schools and high schools, it is about preparing young people for what comes next--for college, postsecondary education, for careers, and for contributions to their communities. We have to start at the beginning to get it right in the middle and in the end. Again, Senators ALEXANDER and MURRAY have brought this perspective, this bipartisan approach, and I commend them for it.

This bill is an improvement over current law. The Every Child Achieves Act maintains the critical transparency and high expectations for all students that were the hallmarks of the No Child Left Behind Act. It does so while updating the parts of the law that have become unworkable and counterproductive, such as the overly prescriptive approach to school improvement and corrective action.

I am pleased the Every Child Achieves Act continues Federal support in key areas for building strong and successful schools, including investments in literacy and school library programs, for professional development to strengthen educator effectiveness, and family engagement in education. From the beginning, access to effective school library programs was a critical part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The results from a recent National Center for Education Statistics survey shows there are still gaps in access to school libraries.

Effective school library programs are essential supports for educational success. Multiple education and literacy studies have produced clear evidence that school libraries staffed by qualified librarians have a positive impact on student achievement.

Now, Senator Cochran and I introduced the Strengthening Kids' Interest in Learning and Libraries--SKILLS--Act to ensure that school libraries continue to be a part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The Every Child Achieves Act recognizes this need by including an authorization to provide funds to high-need school districts to support effective school library programs.

Soon we will be voting on an amendment that Senator Cochran and I are offering to further integrate school library programs into the core Elementary and Secondary Education Act formula grant programs. I encourage all our colleagues to vote yes on this bipartisan amendment that will support student learning.

I am also pleased that the Every Child Achieves Act recognizes the importance of ensuring that disadvantaged children have access to books in their homes from a very early age. Literacy skills are the foundation for success in school and in life. Developing and building these skills begins at home, with parents as the first teachers.

Senator Grassley and I introduced the Prescribe A Book Act to help address this issue, and the Every Child Achieves Act includes some key provisions from this legislation.

We also know teachers and principals are two of the most important in-school factors related to school achievement. It is essential that teachers, principals, and other educators have a comprehensive system that supports their professional growth and development starting on day one and continuing throughout their careers.

Senator Casey and I introduced the Better Education Support and Training Act to create such a system. Once again, I am extraordinarily pleased that the Every Child Achieves Act includes many of the provisions of that legislation, particularly the focus on equitable access to experienced and effective educators.

I remain concerned, however, that the failure to define an ``inexperienced teacher'' will mask inequities and will limit the usefulness of the reporting for parents and communities. I hope we can clarify this issue as we proceed forward.

Family engagement is another critical area this bill addresses. I hope we will be able to strengthen these provisions by increasing the resources that school districts dedicate to meaningful, evidence-based family engagement activities and by providing a statewide system of technical assistance that supports these efforts.

I have been working with Senators Coons and Bennet on amendments that make these additions to the bill based on the Family Engagement and Education Act that I introduced with Senators Coons and Whitehouse in the past two Congresses.

Most fundamental to the question of whether we move closer to achieving our ideals for educational equity and excellence is resources. The grand bargain of the No Child Left Behind Act was greater accountability coupled with greater resources. We have fallen short on accountability for resources. The authorized level for title I for fiscal year 2007 was $25 billion. That is in the No Child Left Behind Act. Today, we are nowhere near that level--at only $14.4 billion.

We need to be just as concerned about opportunity gaps as we are about achievement gaps, and that is why the first bill I introduced this Congress was the Core Opportunity Resources for Equity and Excellence--CORE--Act to establish an accountability mechanism for resource equity. We must look to hold our educational system accountable for both results and for resources.

The Every Child Achieves Act includes some of what I proposed in the CORE Act by bringing some long-overdue transparency to resource equity, requiring States to report on key measures of school quality beyond student achievement on statewide assessments, including student access to experienced and effective educators, access to rigorous and advanced course work, availability of career and technical educational opportunities, and safe and healthy school learning environments.

However, transparency alone is not enough. I am pleased to be working with Senators Kirk, Baldwin, and Brown on the opportunity dashboard of core resources amendment, which will add further provisions from the CORE Act; namely, some accountability for action on disparities in access to critical educational resources.

With more than one in five school-aged children living in families in poverty and roughly half of our public school students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches, we cannot afford nor should we tolerate a public education system that fails to provide resources and opportunities for the children who need them the most.

Again, I thank Chairman Alexander and Senator Murray for bringing this bill before us so thoughtfully, so carefully, and with so much effort and expertise, and their staffs also. I hope we can work together on this amendment to improve an already excellent bill.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

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