[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 106 (Thursday, July 9, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4940-S4941]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        EVERY CHILD ACHIEVES ACT

  Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, this week we are having a particularly 
important debate. Fortunately, it is a bipartisan debate. Great credit 
is owed to Senator Alexander and Senator Murray for their work on the 
Every Child Achieves Act. This bill is a significant piece of 
legislation because educational opportunity in America is a right which 
should start at birth and last a lifetime.
  As a parent, I know that mothers and fathers want their kids to be 
able to climb the economic ladder throughout their lives. That effort 
begins with a top-flight education. In my view, the Every Child 
Achieves Act is a good step toward expanding opportunity for students 
nationwide. It is built around the proposition that each school, each 
district, and each community is different. So rather than resorting to 
the sort of one-size-fits-all policies, this legislation focuses on 
trying to build on smart ideas, ideas with real promise that are 
actually going to make a big difference in classrooms.
  I am going to get to several amendments I want to highlight, but I 
wish to start by recognizing some vital components of the legislation I 
have strongly supported.
  The most important proposal I have worked on is one that focuses on 
raising graduation rates. This is one of the major economic challenges 
in my home State and many other States across the country. In Oregon, 
more than 100 high schools with high rates of poverty are blocked from 
tapping into Federal resources that can help important programs--
programs such as mentoring, before- and afterschool programs, programs 
where there is real evidence that they can make a difference in terms 
of helping these youngsters.
  This is not an issue just in my State. There are more than 2,000 of 
these schools nationwide. Because these schools are in a very difficult 
spot when it comes to securing Federal resources, too often the 
students suffer, and, in my view, the lack of resources for these 
schools often contributes to sky-high dropout rates.
  What I will discuss here briefly is how this proposal I have worked 
for is going to make the school improvement grants easier for middle 
and high schools to obtain and use to help these students, whom we want 
to see graduate and make their way to productive lives as citizens and 
workers.
  If a failing school has 40 percent or more low-income students, it 
would become eligible for assistance. These Federal dollars can be 
used, as I indicated, to fund programs that really work, such as 
extended learning programs, programs that would be available during the 
weekend or perhaps during the summer. The funds can be used to prevent 
dropouts and encourage students who have already dropped out to reenter 
the educational system. Schools can find other ways to help students 
stay at it and get through to graduation day. This will be a 
significant improvement over the status quo. What it does is provides 
support where it is needed most, and it will help us get more value out 
of scarce dollars to approach the challenge of helping students who are 
dropping out to get back in the system and graduate.
  I am also pleased to see the inclusion of several provisions 
championed by my colleague Senator Boxer to create more opportunities 
for students to enroll in afterschool programs and summer learning 
programs. In today's economy, with so many families walking on an 
economic tightrope--parents working long hours, multiple jobs--the fact 
is, there can't always be a parent around at 3 in the afternoon when 
kids get out of school or during the summer months. Senator Boxer 
really took the initiative for the 21st Century Community Learning 
Centers Program and the After School for America's Children Act. Both 
of them are worthy of support because they go to bat for students by 
providing extra learning opportunities for children both after school 
and in the summer.
  There are other key elements in this legislation, but the Senate 
ought to seize the opportunity in this debate to make some significant 
improvements. The Every Child Achieves Act can go a lot further to 
raise graduation rates. There are more than 1,200 high schools, serving 
more than 1.1 million kids, that are failing to graduate a third or 
more of their students each year. Too often, it is the minority 
youngsters who live in economic hardship who attend these schools.
  Senator Warren and I are on the same page with respect to the need to

[[Page S4941]]

make it possible for more of the young people who go to these schools 
to get to graduation. Her amendment would help identify the struggling 
schools and provide some fresh approaches to help turn them around--a 
smart idea that I believe warrants bipartisan support.
  Finally, I have just a couple other approaches that I think are 
particularly valuable in terms of this debate and particularly how we 
can use the machinery of the Federal Government to play a constructive 
role in terms of education at the local level.
  Senator Booker and I have worked for an amendment that tries to help 
homeless children and foster youngsters graduate from high school. Once 
again--and we can see it in kind of what undergirds my remarks here--
the focus is on trying to create opportunity for young people who 
constantly are out there swimming upstream. The hurdles these 
youngsters face are obviously large. Many of them move frequently, 
constantly, from one place to another throughout their lives. As a 
result, it is hard for them to feel any connection to the school, to 
feel some sense of stability. What Senator Booker and I would seek to 
do is to make it easier for school districts and policymakers to try to 
help those school districts provide additional support for those 
youngsters who are homeless and those children who are in the foster 
care system.
  Finally, Senator Franken has offered an important proposal--the 
Student Non-Discrimination Act--that provides strongly needed 
protection for LGBT students. Schools ought to be safe and welcoming 
places that assist every child in getting ahead and thriving. If 
schools--particularly for the youngsters I have talked about in my 
remarks--aren't challenging enough, it is hard to imagine how much 
harder it gets for a youngster who faces harassment or discrimination 
because of their sexual orientation. The Franken amendment goes a long 
way to protect LGBT students and their friends at school and prevent 
them from feeling they have to skip class to avoid bullying.
  In wrapping up, the kinds of proposals I have outlined--starting with 
the effort to try to prevent students from dropping out and getting up 
the graduation rates--this is all about helping students get ahead 
through education, to expand opportunities for these young people 
throughout their lives through education.
  What the focus of the Senate ought to be is to make sure that no 
matter where a child lives or how much his or her parents earn or what 
obstacles they face--the message ought to be, here in the Senate, with 
every Democrat and every Republican, picking up on what Chairman 
Alexander and Senator Murray have said, that this bill will help to 
drive home the principle that hard work in school leads to success. I 
believe the Every Child Achieves Act is a good step in that direction. 
I urge my colleagues to support these important amendments.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Sasse). The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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