[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 179 (Thursday, December 10, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8596-S8597]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       EVERY STUDENT SUCCEEDS ACT

  Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, I wish to speak about the Every Student 
Succeeds Act that the President signed into law today.
  I want to first congratulate my colleagues Senator Patty Murray and 
Senator Lamar Alexander, who have effectively been able to guide this 
bill through the Senate. It has been an honor to watch and participate 
in this process--a process that has served as a great example of the 
way the Senate is supposed to work.
  When the original Senate version of the Every Child Achieves Act came 
to the floor for a vote on July 22, 2015, I could not support it 
because, while it made necessary changes to the No Child Left Behind 
law, I could not in good conscience support a bill that fell short of 
investing in the potential and promise of all of our children, 
especially New Jersey's most vulnerable students. I stood resolute in 
the belief that if Congress was truly going to invest in our children 
and grandchildren's future, it was vital that any legislation passed 
provide support, access, and opportunity to equip the next generation 
to succeed, regardless of their socioeconomic status.
  These needs were particularly poignant given the historic context of 
the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act as a civil rights 
bill. Created the same year as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and just 
11 years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, 
President Lyndon B. Johnson's original piece of legislation intended to 
address the gaping gulf in the quality of education received by low-
income students in an intensely segregated country. Indeed, this piece 
of legislation was a vital tool in President Johnson's arsenal on the 
War on Poverty. It is undeniable that education is a cornerstone of the 
American Dream to achieve success and financial security. We do our 
Nation and our children a disservice if we do not do everything in our 
power to ensure that President Johnson's arsenal is not only 
maintained, but honed and replenished with robust provisions to fight 
an evolving battle for educational equity in our schools.
  Although I did not vote for the original Senate version of ESEA that 
passed the Senate in July, I am glad to see a conference report, the 
Every Student Succeeds Act, ESSA, that takes elements from both the 
House and Senate bill and ultimately is a better bill for all children, 
teachers, and parents in our country.
  Chief among provisions that I believed were problematic was the lack 
of accountability measures to ensure America's most vulnerable students 
have access to a quality education. With regards to accountability, it 
was critical not to be overly prescriptive while still acknowledging an 
intense need to identify and ask schools and districts to figure out 
specific plans to turn things around in the lowest performing schools 
and high schools who fail to graduate one-third of their students. It 
is also critical to identify where there are groups of students who are 
consistently performing worse than their peers. I do not believe these 
changes should come from Washington. Local teachers, principals, and 
parents are best equipped to know how best to

[[Page S8597]]

turn around a failing school, and this bill gives them the arsenal to 
do so. I believe the new accountability provisions empower local 
leaders, with State and Federal guidance, to pursue the improvement 
strategies best suited to their local needs.
  These accountability measures are vital if we are to guarantee that 
the ideals our students pledge allegiance to every day, justice and 
liberty for all, are manifest in the education we provide for our 
youngest Americans.
  With this goal in mind, I am also pleased that ESSA includes my 
amendment to support homeless and foster youth, by ensuring educators 
and the public are aware of how foster and homeless children and youth 
are performing on critical elements compared to their peers by adding 
reporting for these groups on graduation rates to the State and school 
district report cards.
  The role of teachers is also prioritized in ESSA, and I was 
especially proud to see the amendment I authored that helps support 
teachers by asking school districts to identify opportunities to make 
working conditions better and more sustainable.
  With these improvements made and the spirit of the bill as an 
important piece of civil rights legislation maintained, I 
wholeheartedly support the reconciled version that has passed the House 
and Senate and that was signed by the President today.

                          ____________________