[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 79 (Thursday, June 6, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3988-S3989]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. ALEXANDER (for himself, Mr. Burr, Mr. Isakson, Mr. Hatch, 
        Mr. Roberts, Mr. Kirk, and Mr. Enzi):
  S. 1101. A bill to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 to ensure that every child is ready for college or a career; to 
the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I would like to say on behalf of 
several Republican Senators, including Senators Burr, Isakson, Kirk, 
Roberts, Hatch, and Enzi that I am introducing today the Every Child 
Ready for College or Career Act. This bill would let States decide 
whether schools and teachers are succeeding or failing. It would end 
the accumulation of Federal mandates that have piled up on States and 
local school districts and has created, in effect, a national school 
board. It would help 50 million children in 100,000 public schools 
learn what they need to know and be able to do by restoring 
responsibility to States and

[[Page S3989]]

communities and giving teachers and parents more freedom, flexibility, 
and choices.
  I will have more to say about this on Monday in a floor speech, but I 
wanted to call it to the attention of our colleagues.
  While it is being offered by Republican Senators, we do not see it as 
a Republican bill. We see it as a piece of legislation that will 
attract the support of classroom teachers, principals, Governors, 
legislators, and others who have been working for 30 years to set high 
standards, create better tests, create accountability systems, and 
pioneering in developing teacher evaluation systems.
  We believe it is the proper role of the Federal Government to create 
an environment for better schools, but not to issue orders from 
Washington. The combination of No Child Left Behind mandates, Race to 
the Top mandates, and mandates as a result of the Secretary of 
Education's waivers have created such congestion in the U.S. Department 
of Education that it has become, in effect, a national school board.
  We want to head in the other direction. We want to give back to 
States and local governments the responsibility for deciding whether 
schools and teachers are succeeding or failing. I hope all of our 
colleagues will read the Every Child Ready for College or Career Act.
  Senator Harkin and I look forward to the markup next Tuesday in the 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. We will offer 
competing versions. His is more than 1,100 pages, and ours is 220 
pages. This is a symbol of the differences in our approaches. We will 
begin a debate which I hope goes through the committee, moves to the 
Senate floor, combines with the House in conference, and produces a 
result that reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
this year.

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