[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 173 (Tuesday, December 1, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8237-S8238]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND CONFERENCE
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a copy of
my opening remarks during the conference with the House of
Representatives on S. 1177, the Every Child Achieves Act, be printed in
the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND CONFERENCE
Representative Kline, Representative Scott, Senator Murray,
ladies and gentlemen.
We're here for one reason today, because I sat down with
Patty Murray in January and she gave me some good advice and
I took it.
And the advice was--why don't we see if we can develop a
bipartisan beginning to this bill, because we had failed in
the last two congresses.
And as a result we ended up with a bill that passed by the
Senate after many amendments, 81 to 17.
Newsweek magazine recently reminded us what we already knew
very well: No Child Left Behind is a law that everybody wants
fixed. Governors, teachers, superintendents, parents,
Republicans, Democrats, students they all want to see this
law fixed.
There is a consensus about that. And, fortunately, there is
a consensus about how to do it.
And that consensus is this--Continue the law's important
measurements of academic progress of students but restore to
states, school districts, classroom teachers and parents the
responsibility for deciding what to do about improving
student achievement.
That's why in the Senate the bill passed 81 to 17.
That's is why the bill had the support of the nation's
governors, the Chief State School Officers, the school
superintendents, the National Education Association and the
American Federation of Teachers.
There were some differences between the House bill and
Senate bill. Fundamentally, they were based upon that same
consensus.
Both end the waivers through which the U.S. Department of
Education has become, in effect, a national school board for
more than 80,000 Schools in 42 states.
Both end the federal Common Core mandate.
Both move decisions about whether schools and teachers are
succeeding or failing out of Washington, D.C., and back to
states and communities and teachers where those decisions
belong because the real way to higher standards, better
teachers and real accountability is through states,
communities, and classrooms--not through Washington, D.C.
That's why I believe this conference will be successful,
that both houses will approve our conference work product and
I believe the president will sign the legislation into law.
Even though this agreement, in my opinion, is the most
significant step toward local control of schools in 25 years,
some Republicans would like to go further.
I am one of them.
But my Scholarship for Kids proposal, which would have
given states the option to allow federal dollars to follow
children to the schools their parents choose, only received
45 votes in the Senate. We need 60.
So I have decided, like a president named Reagan once
advised, that I'll take 80 percent of what I want and I'll
fight for the other 20 percent on another day.
Besides, if I were to vote no, I would be voting to leave
in place the federal Common Core mandate, the national school
board, the waivers in 42 states. Let me repeat: Voting no is
voting to leave in place the Common Core mandate, the
national school board, and waivers in 42 states.
There are a lot of people counting on us: 50 million
children and 3.4 million teachers and 100,000 public schools.
The law expired seven years ago. If it were strictly
applied, every school in America a failing school.
Teachers and children and parents have been waiting all
that time. If this were homework, they would give us a
failing grade for being tardy.
So I hope we will remind ourselves, and this is my
conclusion, that it is a great privilege to serve in the
United States House of Representatives and the United States
Senate.
That there is no need for us to have that privilege if all
we do is announce our opinions. We could do that at home, or
on the radio, or the newspaper or the street corner.
As members of the Congress, after we have our say, our job
is to get a result.
We`re not the Iraqi parliament.
We are members of the United States Congress, and I hope
that we will demonstrate that we cherish that privilege and
that we cherish our children by building upon this
consensus--fixing the law that everybody wants fixed--and
showing that we are capable of governing by bringing badly
needed certainty to federal education policy in 100,000
public schools.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a copy of
my closing remarks during the conference with the House of
Representatives on S. 1177, the Every Child Achieves Act, be printed in
the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND CONFERENCE
The real winners today are 100,000 public schools which are
attended by 50 million children, where three and a half
million teachers work and are eager for us to bring some
certainty to federal education policy.
This is a law that everybody knows needs fixing. But also
in fixing this law we know that there were alligators lurking
in every
[[Page S8238]]
corner of the pond, and the fact that we were able to both in
the Senate and the House navigate that pond and deal with
respectfully with one another--and also recognize in some
cases our different points of view couldn't be included--I
think, is a great credit to the process.
Governors, teachers, superintendents, Republicans and
Democrats, wanted us to do this, and we've done it so far.
There's not only consensus on the need to fix it, but we have
now shown today that in the House and Senate of the United
States, there is consensus on how to fix it. And that means
we'll keep the important measures of student achievement, but
we will restore to states, communities and classroom teachers
the responsibility with what to do about the results of the
tests.
This would not have happened without your leadership and
Rep. Bobby Scott, who has been a terrific partner in all
this, and the cooperation of the members of the House and
Senate on this committee.
I've complimented Senator Murray perhaps excessively over
the last year, but she has been absolutely key to this. So I
thank you for the opportunity to participate in this.
I came to the Senate not just to make a speech but also to
try and get a result and today we've gotten one.
____________________