[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 52 (Monday, April 13, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H2130-H2131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1930
     50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT

  (Mr. SCOTT of Virginia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

[[Page H2131]]

  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize a significant 
milestone that occurred 50 years ago this week.
  On April 11, 1965, President Johnson signed the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act. The enactment of the ESEA followed the 1954 
Brown v. Board of Education decision, guaranteeing all children equal 
educational opportunities. Unfortunately, communities with high 
concentrations of poverty have never enjoyed equal rights. So, for the 
last 50 years, the ESEA has remained the single-largest Federal 
resource for schools that teach our most vulnerable students.
  If we are to keep our promise of equal educational opportunity for 
all, then we must redouble our efforts to level the public education 
playing field by ensuring that all students have both the resources to 
achieve academic excellence and the promise of action to intervene when 
their academic needs aren't being met.
  This year, we need to renew ESEA in order to bring our education 
system into the 21st century, and we must not waver in our commitment 
to basic civil rights and education that we made 50 years ago this 
week.

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