[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 138 (Tuesday, September 18, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11656-S11657]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself, Mr. Lieberman, Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. 
        Dodd, and Mr. Obama):
  S. 2060. A bill to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 to establish a Volunteer Teacher Advisory Committee; to the 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I am today introducing the Teachers at 
the Table Act of 2007. This bill is the Senate companion to legislation 
introduced in the House of Representatives earlier this year by 
Representative Carolyn McCarthy of New York and Representative Lee 
Terry of Nebraska. I am pleased this legislation is cosponsored by my 
colleagues, Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Senator Blanche 
Lincoln of Arkansas, and Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut.
  This legislation would create a Volunteer Teacher Advisory Committee 
to advise Congress and the Department of Education on the impact of No 
Child Left Behind, NCLB, on students, their families, and the classroom 
learning environment. The teachers serving on this Committee would be 
chosen from past or present state or national Teachers of the Year and 
would be competitively selected by the Secretary of Education and the 
majority and minority leaders of both the U.S. Senate and the House of 
Representatives.
  Every year I travel to each of Wisconsin's 72 counties to hold a 
listening session to listen to Wisconsinites concerns and answer their 
questions. Since NCLB was enacted in early 2002, education has rated as 
one of the top issues brought up at my listening sessions. I have 
received feedback from constituents about the noble intentions of NCLB, 
but I have also heard

[[Page S11657]]

about the multitude of implementation problems with the law's 
provisions. The feedback from teachers, parents, school administrators, 
and school board members has been invaluable over the past 5 years and 
yesterday, I introduced the Improving Student Testing Act of 2007 in 
response to some of that feedback.
  The Teachers at the Table bill I am introducing today seeks to help 
ensure that Congress and the Department of Education receive high-
quality yearly feedback on how NCLB is impacting classroom learning 
around the country. The teachers who will serve on the committee will 
be competitively chosen from past and present Teachers of the Year, who 
represent some of the best that teaching has to offer. The bill would 
create a committee of twenty teachers, with four selected by the 
Secretary of Education and four selected by each of the majority and 
minority leaders in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. These 
teachers would serve 2-year terms on the advisory committee and would 
work to prepare annual reports to Congress as well as quarterly updates 
on the law's implementation.
  Every State and every school district is different and this 
legislation ensures that the teacher advisory committee will represent 
a wide range of viewpoints. The bill specifies that the volunteer 
teacher advisory committee should include teachers from diverse 
geographic areas, teachers who teach different grade levels, and 
teachers from a variety of specialty areas. Creating a diverse 
committee will help ensure that the committee presents a broad range of 
viewpoints on NCLB to Congress and the Department of Education.
  Much work needs to be done this fall to reform many of the mandates 
of NCLB and I look forward to working with my colleagues during the 
reauthorization to make those necessary changes. One thing is certain--
whatever form the reauthorized NCLB takes, there will be a need for 
consistent feedback from a diverse range of viewpoints.
  We need to ensure that the voices of students, educators, parents, 
and administrators, who are on the front-lines of education reform in 
our country, are heard during the reauthorization of NCLB this fall and 
going forward during the reauthorized law's implementation in years to 
come. This bill seeks to help address that need by enlisting the 
service of some of America's best teachers in providing information to 
Federal education policymakers. The advisory committee created by this 
legislation will provide nationwide feedback and will allow Congress to 
hear about NCLB directly from those who deal with the law and its 
consequences on a daily basis.
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