[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 170 (Sunday, December 30, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H7450-H7453]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       UNINTERRUPTED SCHOLARS ACT

  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (S. 3472) to amend the Family Educational Rights and 
Privacy Act of 1974 to provide improvements to such Act.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                S. 3472

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Uninterrupted Scholars Act 
     (USA)''.

     SEC. 2. FAMILY EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS AND PRIVACY.

       Section 444(b) of the General Education Provisions Act (20 
     U.S.C. 1232g(b)) (commonly known as the ``Family Educational 
     Rights and Privacy Act of 1974'') is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (1)--
       (A) in subparagraph (J)(ii), by striking ``and'' after the 
     semicolon at the end;
       (B) in subparagraph (K)(ii), by striking the period at the 
     end and inserting ``; and''; and
       (C) by inserting after subparagraph (K), the following:
       ``(L) an agency caseworker or other representative of a 
     State or local child welfare agency, or tribal organization 
     (as defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and 
     Education Assistance Act (25 U.S. C. 450b)), who has the 
     right to access a student's case plan, as defined and 
     determined by the State or tribal organization, when such 
     agency or organization is legally responsible, in accordance 
     with State or tribal law, for the care and protection of the 
     student, provided that the education records, or the 
     personally identifiable information contained in such 
     records, of the student will not be disclosed by such agency 
     or organization, except to an individual or entity engaged in 
     addressing the student's education needs and authorized by 
     such agency or organization to receive such disclosure and 
     such disclosure is consistent with the State or tribal laws 
     applicable to protecting the confidentiality of a student's 
     education records.''; and
       (2) in paragraph (2)(B), by inserting ``, except when a 
     parent is a party to a court proceeding involving child abuse 
     and neglect (as defined in section 3 of the Child Abuse 
     Prevention and Treatment Act (42 U.S.C. 5101 note)) or 
     dependency matters, and the order is issued in the context of 
     that proceeding, additional notice to the parent by the 
     educational agency or institution is not required'' after 
     ``educational institution or agency''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Roe) and the gentleman from California (Mr. George 
Miller) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Tennessee.


                             General Leave

  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks on S. 3472.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Tennessee?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I rise today in support of S. 3472, the Uninterrupted Scholars Act. 
The bill amends the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, 
better known as FERPA, to give child welfare agency caseworkers access 
to the educational records of foster children. This is an important 
bill that will help improve the quality of education for children in 
foster care.

                              {time}  1730

  In 2008, Congress passed the Fostering Connections to Success and 
Increasing Adoptions Act, which tasked

[[Page H7451]]

child welfare agencies with ensuring that children in foster care are 
enrolled in school. In carrying out this important mission, agencies 
are required to consider educational stability when identifying foster 
care placements and coordinate with local school districts to ensure 
that young people stay in their current school when placed in foster 
care or are immediately enrolled in a new school if that is in their 
best interest.
  Over the last 4 years, student privacy law has made it difficult to 
properly implement the educational stability provisions of the 
Fostering Connections law. For example, child welfare agents are unable 
to access student education records in a timely manner, if at all, to 
properly monitor student progress and coursework, or to get students 
enrolled in the proper courses if a transfer of schools is necessary.
  The Uninterrupted Scholars Act will correct these challenges. By 
allowing direct--and limited--access to the education records of foster 
kids, caseworkers can follow the students' education in a timely manner 
and help ensure greater success in school.
  The Committee on Education and the Workforce--and this Congress--
understands the importance of maintaining strong student privacy 
protections and supports the provisions included in FERPA. It is our 
responsibility to ensure a student's personal information, such as 
academic progress, placement or disciplinary records, is not shared 
with anyone other than officials directly involved in the student's 
education.
  For children in foster care, child welfare agents have a 
responsibility to look out for the education of their students and have 
a direct need to have access to these important records. The bill 
before us today narrowly grants caseworkers access to these important 
records.
  Mr. Speaker, S. 3472 is a narrow, but critical, step in helping 
children in foster care receive a better education. I urge my 
colleagues to support this bill and reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bipartisan legislation 
to help foster children succeed in school.
  The Uninterrupted Scholars Act will make a real and immediate 
difference in the lives of foster children across this country.
  I want to thank Congresswoman Bass and Senator Landrieu for their 
support of this legislation, the Senate for sending this legislation 
back to the House, Chairman Roe for managing this on the floor, and 
Chairman Kline for agreeing to have this legislation come to the House 
today.
  In thanking Congresswoman Bass, I want to recognize her not only as 
the author of this legislation, but for her leadership both here in 
Washington and in the State legislature in our State of California when 
she served there on behalf of these young people to make sure that they 
would have a better opportunity at success.
  Foster children are some of the most at-risk students. As a group, 
they miss more school than their peers, are more likely to drop out, 
and take longer to finish when they do graduate. Throughout their young 
lives, they may change care placements multiple times. Each placement 
means adjusting to a new family and often a new community, new friends, 
and a new school.
  Each move can put their educational success in jeopardy. That's 
because the caseworkers who advocate for them as they move from one 
school to another often do so without critical information. Though 
current law rightly requires foster care caseworkers to include 
children's education records in their case plans, another Federal law 
limits the ability of caseworkers to access those records in a timely 
manner.
  Without access to a foster child's school records, caseworkers are 
limited in their ability to advocate for the child's educational needs, 
especially as they move from one school to another or from one family 
to another. Without these records, caseworkers don't have the necessary 
information to make important and informed decisions about placement, 
wraparound services, and credit transfers among schools. That means 
that those vulnerable children do not get the services that they need. 
This red tape creates unnecessary hurdles for educational successes for 
many foster children. And if there's one thing foster children don't 
need in life, it's additional hurdles to jump. They have plenty of 
hurdles confronting them every day as they try to succeed within the 
system.
  This legislation before us today makes narrow changes to FERPA to 
allow foster care caseworkers to do a better job on behalf of these 
young people. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. I have no speakers at this time. I continue to 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. With that, I yield 5 minutes to 
Congresswoman Bass of California, one of the authors of this 
legislation, and again thank her for her advocacy on behalf of foster 
children and foster families.
  Ms. BASS of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support 
of S. 3472, the Uninterrupted Scholars Act, a bill that will help 
foster children achieve educational success.
  First, I want to thank Chairman Kline and Ranking Member Miller for 
their support of this bill and their ongoing dedication to improving 
outcomes for foster youth throughout the Nation. I would also like to 
extend my sincere appreciation and respect to Senator Landrieu. I am 
proud to work alongside the Senator, who is a tireless advocate for 
foster youth and families both domestic and worldwide.
  Throughout 2012, the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth has 
traveled the country and visited five States on a nationwide listening 
tour. We heard from youth, families, and community leaders about the 
best practices and challenges facing the child welfare system.
  In Miami, Florida, at the invitation of Congress Members Alcee 
Hastings and Frederica Wilson, we learned about a commonsense, no-cost 
legislative fix that would have a significant and positive impact on 
hundreds of thousands of foster children across the country.
  After we returned to Washington, I joined my fellow cochairs of the 
congressional caucus--Representatives Marino, McDermott, Bachmann, and 
a number of other members of the caucus--to introduce the bipartisan 
Uninterrupted Scholars Act. This bill will address the concerns raised 
in Florida by providing youth with the support they need to avoid 
problems like inappropriate course placement and lost credits upon 
changing schools. Specifically, it will simply allow caseworkers to 
access transcripts for foster youth while maintaining important privacy 
protections.
  Children in foster care are among the most educationally at-risk of 
all student populations. Because of the abuse and neglect foster youth 
have experienced in their young lives, they often face physical and 
emotional challenges that interfere with their learning and negatively 
impact their educational outcomes. For example, the average child in 
foster care goes to three to five high schools.
  Existing Federal law requires that child welfare agencies include 
educational records in their case plan and work with school districts 
to improve the educational experiences and outcomes for children in 
foster care. However, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or 
FERPA, unintentionally creates a harmful barrier that prevents child 
welfare caseworkers from being able to quickly access school records 
necessary to help meet the educational needs of students in foster 
care. This can lead to significant delays that contribute to 
inappropriate class placements, enrollment delays, repeated classes, 
delayed graduation, and even dropouts.
  The story of young Jasmine is an example of stories we heard during 
the listening tour. When Jasmine was placed in foster care on an 
emergency basis, her mother's whereabouts were unknown and the child 
welfare agency caseworker was unable to obtain consent from any parent. 
Without timely access to the child's education records, the caseworker 
could not evaluate whether it would be in Jasmine's best interest to 
remain in the same school. Jasmine moved to a new school, which had 
different graduation requirements. She received no credits for her 
coursework from the prior school and had to repeat some of the same 
classes.

[[Page H7452]]

She fell a full year behind and eventually dropped out of the school.
  In my district, the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family 
Services is currently responsible for the placement and care of over 
15,000 foster youth. The sheer size of this youth population--larger 
than most States--as well as the 82 different school districts within 
L.A. County, make it particularly challenging to proactively address 
student needs without direct access to educational records.
  Another example from the listening tour when we were in L.A. is 
Vanessa, a fifth grader who has a similar story. She was transferred 
from L.A. Unified to another school district over 50 miles away while 
relocating to a new foster home. Her records did not follow. Therefore, 
she was placed in a fourth grade classroom, a full grade level below 
her actual skill level and age. She consistently cried at meetings with 
teachers. She eventually advocated for herself and her classes were 
transferred, but in the meantime she missed 2 months of fifth grade. 
The Uninterrupted Scholars Act would help avoid situations faced by 
young Jasmine and Vanessa by allowing child welfare caseworkers, who 
have the legal responsibility for a foster child's care and welfare, 
timely access to their educational records.

                              {time}  1740

  At the same time, this bill protects and preserves the educational 
privacy rights of students and parents that we all want to safeguard. 
In the words of Mary Cagle, the director of Legal Services at the 
Florida Department of Children and Families, this bill ``fixes an 
existing conflict in Federal law. It's so simple, so easy, so clear.''
  The Uninterrupted Scholars Act is endorsed by dozens of nationwide 
organizations, including the National Foster Parent Association, the 
National School Boards Association, the Child Welfare League of 
America, and many others. Today I stand with my bipartisan, bicameral 
colleagues in the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth to ask for your 
support, as well.
  We have a responsibility to foster youth, children whom we have 
removed from their parents' care, youth whom we promised to keep safe 
and help to succeed. The Uninterrupted Scholars Act will help us keep 
this promise.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman 
from Washington, Congressman McDermott, a strong supporter of this 
legislation and an advocate on behalf of foster children.
  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend 
his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to endorse the 
amendments to S. 3472. But in talking about this, I want to talk about 
the process by which we got here. Nothing ever goes as fast in the 
House of Representatives as we want it to. And I want to commend my 
colleague, the ranking member on the Education committee, George 
Miller, for his historic leadership on child welfare issues. He got 
here in the '70s, and there was nobody looking after kids. Nobody. 
There was no focus anyplace in the Congress. So he took it on. He had 
hearings and hearings and hearings and hearings. And that brought about 
the bill that passed in 1980. It was called the Adoption Assistance and 
Child Welfare Act of 1980.
  Now when I got here as a child psychiatrist, I looked around and saw 
there was some stuff to do, and I wrote the Fostering Connections Act, 
which I authored and passed in the 2008 Congress with strong bipartisan 
support with the intent of improving the lives of kids in foster care. 
We continued to look for a way to make this system really function. And 
through the 1980 act, the law gave the power to shift resources from 
temporary out-of-home care toward either providing services to a child 
or his or her family or finding other permanent adoptive homes.
  One of the key provisions of the Fostering Connections Act was to 
better provide for educational stability. What we found was that kids 
constantly were moved, their records were lost, and there were long 
delays. And the single thing that gives them a real chance to make it 
in society, that is, an education, was being denied by the bureaucracy 
that sort of thought, well, this is just, we'll get the records there 
when we get the records there.
  So it's fitting that the ranking member on the Education and 
Workforce Committee is here to help guide this current legislation 
making it easier for foster kids to succeed academically through the 
House today.
  Why is education important? Well, if you go to the same school, you 
know the people, you find a teacher, you find a teacher who might be 
interested in you when a parent wasn't interested in you, or you had no 
one else in the world that was interested in you, but you found a 
teacher, and that's what the educational system has done to hundreds 
and hundreds and hundreds of foster kids.
  Now, we thought, well, we'll just write into Fostering Connections a 
change in Federal policy which would make sure that youth maintain some 
kind of continuity within their school when they're forced to move from 
home to home.
  It says that a State welfare agency must coordinate with educational 
agencies to ensure that a child remains in the school in which he or 
she is enrolled at the time of placement. If remaining in the child's 
school of origin is not in his or her best interest, that State must 
ensure the child is immediately enrolled in a new school without 
waiting weeks or months for paperwork.
  Now, with Fostering Connections, it seems like a simple thing to say 
that kids ought to continue in the same school. As with any law we 
pass, there is always this implementation period. As a result, it has 
taken us several years to figure out the problems and the barriers to 
successfully implementing this particular provision. Many teachers and 
school administrators are still unaware of these provisions. Many 
schools lack any coordinator or coordinating entity to facilitate 
cross-agency collaboration to serve the best interests of the child.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I yield the gentleman an additional 
1 minute.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. In addition, we have evidence that the Family 
Education Rights and Privacy Act currently hinders child welfare 
agencies in their efforts to meet the educational needs of kids in 
their care. Child welfare agencies have difficulty in obtaining the 
school records of foster kids. Students miss school for long periods of 
time waiting for school records to be transferred.
  We know that education is a predictor for future adult success. Yet 
too many children and foster youth are unable to get this start because 
of the barriers in our system. This piece of legislation is an attempt 
to break down those barriers and make it work more smoothly.
  The passage of the Uninterrupted Scholars Act will help ensure that 
needed coordination and help to ensure foster care youth succeed 
academically. This bill will have enormous positive impact for 
thousands of children in the foster care system. I encourage my 
colleagues to support it.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. I want to thank the gentleman from 
Washington for his leadership.
  I would like to yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. I want to thank the gentleman from 
California both for his longstanding leadership and the history of his 
emphasis on how important our children are.
  As a founder and chair of the Congressional Children's Caucus, I'm 
delighted to have joined with my colleague, Congresswoman Bass, and 
various cochairs of the Foster Care Caucus on the bipartisan 
legislation that the Uninterrupted Scholars Act is, and the bicameral 
legislation, and to also add appreciation to Chairman Kline of 
Minnesota and to Senator Landrieu for her leadership and partnership. I 
know of her great interest on the issues of both domestic adoption and 
international adoption.
  Certainly, unfortunately, the system of foster care has many times, 
when it has not been intended to, been, if you will, a place of 
hopelessness. This legislation wants to provide a lifeline to foster 
care children, particularly as they approach adolescence and high 
school and going on to college, so that they can be taken out of the 
abyss of hopelessness.

[[Page H7453]]

  I've had the opportunity, of course, to be able to meet with foster 
care children both in my district and here when they've lobbied on the 
Hill, and their stories are both of passion and commitment to having a 
future, a commitment to serving the Nation, a commitment to making a 
difference. Why shouldn't they have the opportunity to make a 
difference? Why can't they be considered just like those who have 
different lifestyles, if you will, in terms of a family situation?
  So this legislation says that they should have, as well, that kind of 
orderliness. And if their orderliness comes through a social worker or 
a caseworker who will have access to their records to be able to plan 
for them the best format, whether it is to remain in a school, to 
transfer to a school, when they cannot access that natural parent or 
any other relative that would stand in for that child. There's nothing 
more, if you will, desperate and disappointing than to be able to find 
a child that has no hope, no one to turn to, and really wants to do, 
wants to accomplish, wants to graduate from high school.
  So I believe that the Uninterrupted Scholars Act is a very important 
provision that reflects the laws that have been passed dealing with 
privacy as it relates to records of children in postsecondary school 
and the protection of those school records. This, in particular, 
allows, let me say, an exception to release the student's education 
records to a caseworker, State or local child welfare representative, 
or tribal organization that has a right to access that student's case 
plans. Again, that helps those students be able to have a lifeline.

                              {time}  1750

  Just a week or so ago, there was an article in The New York Times on 
three young people from Galveston, Texas. They were not necessarily 
foster care children, but it is indicative of what happens to children 
of less means. Part of their lack of success was their inability to 
access the Internet, to get timely notices that they were supposed to 
apply for a scholarship, to have their parents know that they were 
supposed to modify their income sheet.
  If you can imagine, we just went through Hurricane Ike, and this one 
child's parents had received aid through Hurricane Ike. Well, they were 
told that they didn't meet the scholarship standards because they made 
too much money, and they didn't modify it to say that it wasn't money 
that we made; it was aid because we were victims of Hurricane Ike.
  This is similar to what happens to foster care children, and I am 
very delighted that we have legislation that is common sense and that 
we can attribute to the Foster Care Caucus, which we work closely with 
as a Congressional Children's Caucus.
  I want to thank Mr. Miller and Mr. Kline for their dedication and 
commitment to the Nation's children. They are, in fact, a precious 
resource, and the Uninterrupted Scholars Act is one element of saying 
that they are important to us.
  Let me again thank Congresswoman Bass and Senator Landrieu for their 
leadership, as well.
  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such 
time as I may consume.
  The care and concern for foster children has been a bit of a relay 
race for myself back in the late seventies and eighties, to Senator 
Russell Long, to former Congressman Tom Downey, former Majority Leader 
Tom DeLay, to Senator Landrieu, now Karen Bass from my State of 
California, and Congressman McDermott before her.
  We've tried to make sure that these young people, with a lot of chaos 
in their life, far beyond any of their own doing, have a chance to 
succeed. Clearly, the best chance to succeed is to see that they get a 
good education and an opportunity to participate in American society 
and in America's economy. This act, the Uninterrupted Scholars Act, 
goes a long way toward helping their advocates make sure that they get 
the best shot at the best education.
  So I want to thank all the supporters of this legislation, 
Congressman Roe and Congressman Kline, for their support and their 
willingness to bring it to the floor of the House so we can send it to 
the President of the United States.
  Just before I conclude my remarks, Mr. Speaker, I want to take a 
moment to recognize a cherished member of my staff who will be leaving 
the committee at the beginning of January.
  Ruth Friedman began her career with me as a fellow in my personal 
office more than a decade ago. Because of her hard work and dedication 
and unparalleled expertise, she rose to become my education policy 
director on the committee.
  Ruth holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and is one of the foremost 
experts in early childhood policy. I can tell you that the children of 
this country benefited every day from her work on the Education 
Committee.
  Ruth has spent her career fighting for the most vulnerable children 
on issues like child welfare, juvenile justice, early learning, child 
care, child abuse prevention and treatment. She has worked on countless 
pieces of legislation successfully, including today's bill, and was 
instrumental is passing the 2007 Head Start Reauthorization Act.
  I want to thank Ruth for her extraordinary service to me, to the 
committee, to the Nation, and to the Nation's children. Her advice and 
counsel have been invaluable, and she will be sorely missed, but we 
know that she has great accomplishments ahead of her.
  Ruth, I want to wish you, Pete, and Dylan all of the best. Thank you 
so much for all of your service to our committee on both sides of the 
aisle, and certainly to this Nation's children.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support this 
legislation, thank Congressman Roe for managing this bill on the floor, 
and I yield back the balance of my time
  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my 
time.
  I wish to conclude by saying, Ruth, congratulations, and thank you 
for all the hard work that you have done for both sides of the aisle 
and for the work you've done for the children of this Nation.
  I also want to thank Senator Landrieu and Congresswoman Bass, who is 
my next-door neighbor in the Cannon Office Building, and Ranking Member 
Miller for the work you've done for many decades for the children of 
this country, and Chairman Kline.
  I will conclude by just saying I'm proud to sponsor the Uninterrupted 
Scholars Act, and I urge my colleagues a ``yes'' vote.
  With that, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Roe) that the House suspend the rules and 
pass the bill, S. 3472.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground 
that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum 
is not present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this question will be postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

                          ____________________