[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 54 (Wednesday, March 28, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4055-S4056]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. MARTINEZ (for himself and Mr. Cornyn):
  S. 1009. A bill to amend part A of title I of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965 to improve supplemental educational 
services, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. MARTINEZ. Mr. President, I am here to discuss a topic of great 
meaning to American families: educating our children. We all want what 
is best for our children, and to provide them with the tools they need 
to succeed in tomorrow's workforce.
  Today, I want to concentrate on one particular program that can play 
a key role in ensuring our children are meeting their educational 
goals.
  I rise, along with Senator John Cornyn of Texas, to once again 
introduce the Raising Achievement Through Improving Supplemental 
Education Act, or the RAISE Act for short.
  The RAISE Act seeks to improve the Supplemental Educational Services 
program--a tutoring program under No Child Left Behind--to help it 
become well-known, widely available, and easily accessible to eligible 
students. It seeks to broaden eligibility requirements and 
prioritization of the program to target all low-performing students 
regardless of income status. The Supplemental Educational Services 
program--also known as SES--was implemented as part of No Child Left 
Behind and designed to be an innovative tool to help meet the academic 
needs of low-income students attending continuously failing schools.
  Under the program, low-income parents can elect to have free private 
after-school tutoring for their children. To pay the providers of this 
tutoring service, school districts would need only to use a required 20 
percent allocation of their Federal funds.
  By providing direct tutoring after school, the SES program can help 
those students who are behind catch up with their peers. This, in turn, 
also improves the overall performance of the school. But, due to the 
lack of strong implementation, there have been numerous shortfalls 
nationwide. This is a troubling development that the RAISE Act seeks to 
correct.
  For example, in the 2005-2006 school year, just 20 percent of the 
eligible 2\1/2\ million students participated in SES programs. That 
translates into hundreds of thousands of eligible children not being 
provided with tutoring help. The funding has already been set aside--
there are children across the

[[Page S4056]]

Nation who could benefit from this after-school tutoring program--but 
they have to know about it to benefit from it.
  Parents and State agencies are reporting that poor communication, 
delayed notification, and lack of transportation have become barriers 
to their children participating in the program. Also, there were some 
conflicts with other, better established after-school programs.
  In Florida, we have already implemented SES improvements. As a 
result, Florida is seeing stronger guidelines, better State oversight, 
and consequently, higher SES program participation rate.
  Many of the provisions of the RAISE Act are modeled after the 
successes already occurring in my home State. And it is notable that 
States such as Maryland and Indiana--where similar guidelines have been 
in place longer--they are seeing a remarkable 64 to 68 percent 
participation rate in their SES programs.
  In our school districts where SES programs are thriving, good 
communication with both parents and providers has been emphasized, as 
well as access to on-site tutoring at school facilities.
  Another important component of the RAISE Act is eligibility for SES. 
Currently, SES targets low-income, low-performing students. I think we 
should be targeting all low-performing students, regardless of income 
status. By overlooking many middle-class families who do not have the 
money to put their children into private tutoring or after-school 
programs, many of those children are falling through the cracks.
  How can we ensure that no child is being left behind unless we 
specifically focus programs on those students who need the most help?
  The RAISE Act was developed in consultation with school 
administrators, State education officials, and non-profit and research 
groups. This is a nationwide imperative and I urge my colleagues to 
support this innovative set of reforms.
  The RAISE Act aims to help every child in the schoolyard have an 
equal opportunity for scholastic growth and achievement--this also 
happens to be the fundamental purpose of No Child Left Behind.
  Together, all of us in this Chamber can make the RAISE Act a reality, 
and improve the academic lives of countless American schoolchildren in 
need.
                                 ______