[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 173 (Tuesday, December 1, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H8652]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          STUDENT SUCCESS ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Costello) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. COSTELLO of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak 
about the issue of public education in America and what we need to do 
here in Washington, D.C., to improve our public education system.
  I specifically rise today to urge passage of the Student Success Act 
in the name of putting students first.
  The bottom line, Mr. Speaker, is that right now the Federal education 
bureaucracy has imposed more mandates on local classrooms, on students, 
on teachers, on administrators, than was ever intended or contemplated 
by our Constitution and essentially runs afoul of the principles of 
federalism. That being that, if power is not vested upon the Federal 
Government to do something, it should be left to the States or even 
more local subdivisions; in this case, our local school boards.
  The Student Success Act seeks to empower teachers, administrators, 
parents, and students by sending control back to school boards and 
classrooms across this country.
  Mr. Speaker, the Student Success Act accomplishes a great deal for 
the sake of the student. I am going to spend a minute explaining how 
and why that is. But it is also important to point out what happens if 
we do not pass this bill: more curriculum mandates out of Washington, 
D.C., more testing mandates out of Washington, D.C. If we do not pass 
this bill, we get more of that.
  If we do not pass this bill, we have more power and control 
administered at the sole discretion of the Secretary of Education, as 
it stands right now. The Secretary of Education has the power of the 
purse at his disposal, and we have a waiver program that essentially 
plays out as follows:
  If the Secretary of Education at the Federal level likes what you are 
doing with your curriculum and your accountability measures at the 
local level, you get grant money. If he doesn't like it, you don't get 
the grant money. There is way too much discretion in Washington, D.C., 
over how public education is managed and administered in this country. 
That is not the way it was intended to be.
  The waiver program, which is in effect right now, is acting as a top-
down lever to dictate what is taught in the classrooms, how it is 
taught, when and how much testing should be employed by teachers, how 
they teach in the classroom, and when students have to take tests.
  I cannot tell you how often I hear from parents and students and 
teachers lamenting about not only the days spent testing, but the days 
spent preparing to test.
  The effort with the Student Success Act is to roll that back and have 
States take a leadership role in that and the Federal Government 
retreat, reduce the Federal footprint in education in this country.
  This is not a partisan issue. This is an issue of fairness. It is 
only fair that teachers and parents get more say over public education 
and Washington, D.C., gets less.
  A vote against this bill is a vote for the status quo, and I don't 
think anyone really, truly wants public education coming more out of 
Washington, D.C.
  The Student Success Act ensures that States cannot be coerced into 
Common Core. If we do not pass this bill, the Secretary of Education, 
through the waiver program, has more ability to impose Common Core. By 
passing this bill, States cannot be coerced into the Common Core 
curriculum.
  The Student Success Act eliminates 49 duplicative, ineffective 
Federal programs. If we do not pass this bill, those 49 duplicative, 
ineffective programs stay on the books.

                              {time}  1030

  The Student Success Act provides more flexible funding for school 
districts to fund their priorities at the local level.
  I want to thank Chairman Kline, Mr. Rokita, and all my colleagues on 
the Education and the Workforce Committee for their work on the Student 
Success Act.
  Mr. Speaker, let's put children first and pass this bill.

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