[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 137 (Thursday, September 15, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S5688]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. McCAIN:
  S. 1570. A bill to provide for high-quality academic tutoring for 
low-income students, and for other purposes; to the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, when poor children in low performing 
schools need help, what options are available to their parents to give 
them a chance to improve their learning achievement? Sadly, very few 
options exist to give children in low performing schools a chance.
  I am pleased to introduce legislation that will protect and enhance 
the right of parents to have final say in their children's education. 
In order to create better outcomes for our nation's youth, we must 
restore power to parents. We must ensure that parents have real choices 
to raise their child's achievement level when schools fail to do so. 
The Tutoring for Students Act, furthers this critical goal by 
establishing a state-level grant program to give low-income parents the 
ability to provide their children high quality academic tutoring.
  Low-income parents should have the same opportunities to help their 
children achieve as families with greater economic means.
  Tutoring is as much a part of education in America as the yellow 
school bus or the neighborhood school building. If your child is 
struggling academically, and you have the financial means to do so, you 
get your child a tutor. Tutoring is time proven and common sense. 
Equally, while there are many ideas about how to improve education in 
America, one thing upon which everyone agrees plays a critical role in 
any child's education: the active involvement of their parents.
  The Tutoring for Students Act encourages the active engagement of 
parents by giving them a say in helping their child's education. 
Parents can drive schools to apply for tutoring grants. Parents choose 
to enroll their children. Parents pick which tutoring provider they 
send their child to. Parents receive progress updates on their child.
  For too long in this country the debate about education has been more 
about the institutions--the institution of powerful unions, the 
institution of the school bureaucracies. Make no mistake about it, 
strong leadership in the classroom and in school administration is 
important. However, education is not about protecting and preserving 
union contracts and the jobs of bureaucrats. Education is about our 
children. If they aren't getting what they need in the classroom, we 
need to work with schools to help them improve. At the same time, we 
must provide students in struggling schools with the help they need to 
ensure they receive a quality education.
  The foundation for success in education is setting high expectations 
for our schools and holding them accountable to develop our most 
precious resource--our children. Every child, no matter what their 
economics, deserves not only a chance, but has an absolute right, to a 
good education. If students can't get what they deserve in the 
classroom, then we must empower parents with educational support tools 
and the ability to make meaningful choices about what is best for their 
children.
  When Congress passed No Child Left Behind, embedded in that landmark 
legislation were certain programs specifically designed to recognize 
the importance of parental empowerment and parental participation. 
Supplemental Education Services is a program specifically designed to 
give low-income families the ability to access educational support 
opportunities just like families with more financial freedom, to shop 
for the best tutoring services for their child.
  Thoughtful education reform means building upon successes and lessons 
learned. We have learned a great deal since passage of No Child Left 
Behind. That includes our experience in providing tutoring services to 
low-income children. One of the most important lessons we learned is 
that tutoring works. In March, the U.S. Department of Education 
released a study stating that the tutoring program led to significant 
gains in math and reading student achievement. Studies by respected 
organizations like the Rand Corporation and school districts like the 
Chicago Public schools have come to similar conclusions.
  Another important lesson from NCLB is the cynical lengths to which 
some low performing schools districts are willing to go in order to 
avoid accountability and deny parents the opportunity to access 
tutoring services for their children. Far too often these districts 
gamed the enrollment process for tutoring services, making it 
difficult, if not impossible for parents to exercise their right to 
take advantage of the SES program and get their children the 
educational support services--tutoring--they desperately needed. 
Similarly, due to poor oversight, there have been cases where tutors 
failed to meet their responsibility to provide high quality tutoring.
  These problems are addressed in this legislation by establishing a 
state-administered grant program. Any school can elect to participate, 
allowing low-income parents with children attending participating 
schools to take advantage of high quality tutoring services. The 
Tutoring for Students Act requires strict oversight of tutoring service 
providers, from certification to evaluation, in order to ensure that 
parents can rely upon qualified tutoring service providers to help 
their children.
  I do not favor more Federal control over education. That is why the 
Tutoring for Students Act is not a Federal mandate. Rather, it is a 
guarantee that parents will have the right to stand up for their 
children and give them the opportunity for a better education and a 
better life. Empowering parents with the ability to positively impact 
their child's education is not a mandate. It is common sense. Freedom 
is not a Federal mandate. It is an individual right. The best use of 
Federal dollars in education is to make them more accessible to 
parents, empowering them to look out for the needs of their children. 
High quality tutoring is a commonsense, academic lifeline.
  In my home State of Arizona, organizations like the Education 
Breakthrough Network to Literacy Volunteers of Tucson and the Arizona 
Chapter of Campfire USA have voiced their strong support. Nationwide, 
organizations such as the United Farm Workers of America, the National 
Urban League, the Commonwealth Foundation and the John Locke Institute 
continue to stand up for the rights of parents to have more tools and 
choices to help their children achieve. There is strong support for 
this program among communities across America, particularly among the 
parents who so often do not have a voice representing their needs and 
interests here in Washington.
  I look forward to working with Senator Enzi, Senator Harkin, and the 
rest of my colleagues to secure passage of meaningful education reform 
that includes protecting and strengthening the ability of parents to 
make educational choices for their children, choices that include high 
quality tutoring.

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