[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 23 (Thursday, February 9, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E171-E173]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




PROVIDING FOR CONGRESSIONAL DISAPPROVAL OF RULE SUBMITTED BY DEPARTMENT 
        OF EDUCATION RELATING TO ACCOUNTABILITY AND STATE PLANS

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 7, 2017

  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.J. 
Res. 57, the CRA Resolution for Disapproval of the Rule Submitted by 
the Department of Education Relating to Accountability and State Plans 
under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA).
  I oppose this legislation because the regulation Republicans seek to 
rescind is intended to reduce educational opportunities in student 
achievement, quality of instruction, college readiness and other 
important outcomes.
  ESEA, the national education law, represents a longstanding 
commitment to equal opportunity for all students.
  ESEA authorizes state-run programs for eligible schools and districts 
eager to raise the

[[Page E172]]

academic achievement of struggling learners and address the complex 
challenges that arise for students who live with disability, mobility 
problems, learning difficulties, poverty, or transience, or who need to 
learn English.
  The original goal of the law, which remains today, was to improve 
educational equity for students from lower-income families by providing 
federal funds to school districts serving poor students.
  Typically, these school districts receive less state and local 
funding than those serving more affluent children.
  Local property taxes are typically the primary funding source for 
schools, and property values are much lower in poorer areas, making the 
funds critical to children demonstrating greater educational need.
  ESEA is the single largest source of federal spending on elementary 
and secondary education.
  ESEA demands accountability in state plans addressing deficiencies in 
high needs educational policy in return for the taxpayer dollars.
  Because of this regulation states and districts must now show that 
they are working to meet the needs and providing a quality education to 
all of their students.
  When education policy folks talk about accountability, this is what 
they mean.
  Recognizing the continuing vital need for this landmark legislation, 
the 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 was 
reauthorized as the Every Student Succeeds Act, with strong bipartisan 
majorities and it was signed by President Obama on December 10, 2015.
  The joint resolution before us today, would nullify the rule 
finalized by the Department of Education on November 29, 2016, relating 
to accountability and state plans under the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act of 1965.
  H.J. Res. 57 is the latest Republican attempt to dismantle the 
oversight and enforcement authority of the Department of Education and 
undermine public education.
  Thus far:
  The Trump Administration nominated Betsy DeVos, a candidate for 
Secretary of Education with no practical education experience who 
pledges to redirect $20 billion in federal funding to private school 
voucher programs;
  Administration sources leaked plans to eliminate the Under Secretary 
position and outsource higher education policy to a task force headed 
by the controversial Jerry Falwell, Jr., the President of Liberty 
University;
  The Department removed all Every Student Succeeds Act technical 
assistance resources to the states from the public domain; and
  Republicans have filed two joint resolutions of disapproval to block 
and prevent re-regulation of key equity protections for students and 
educators--this bill and H.J. Res. 58, the Congressional Review Act 
(CRA) Resolution for Disapproval of the Rule Submitted by the 
Department of Education Relating to Teacher Preparation Issues.
  Mr. Speaker, current education law and policy builds on key areas of 
progress in recent years, made possible by the efforts of educators, 
communities, parents, and students across the country.
  Today, high school graduation rates are at all-time highs:
  Graduation rate of U.S. public high schools: 83.2 percent for the 
2014-15 school year, an all-time high; pre-Obama: 75 percent
  By race and ethnicity:
  African Americans: 73 percent; pre-Obama: 61 percent
  Hispanics: 76 percent; pre-Obama: 64 percent
  Whites: 87 percent; pre-Obama: 81 percent
  American Indian/Alaska Native: 70 percent: pre-Obama: 64 percent
  Asian/Pacific Islander: 89 percent; pre-Obama: 91 percent
  Dropout rates are at historic lows.
  And more students are going to college than ever before.
  These achievements provide a firm foundation for further work to 
expand educational opportunity and improve student outcomes under ESSA.
  ESSA includes provisions that will help to ensure success for 
students and schools. Below are just a few benefits provided by the 
ESSA:
  1) Advances equity by upholding critical protections for America's 
disadvantaged and high-need students.
  2) Require--for the first time, that all students in America be 
taught to high academic standards that will prepare them to succeed in 
college and careers.
  3) Ensures that vital information is provided to educators, families, 
students, and communities through annual statewide assessments that 
measure students' progress toward those high standards.
  4) Helps to support and grow local innovation including evidence-
based and place-based interventions developed by local leaders and 
educator, consistent with our Investing in Innovation and Promise 
Neighborhoods.
  5) Sustains and expands this administration's historic investments in 
increasing access to high-quality preschool.
  6) Maintains an expectation that there will be accountability, and 
action to effect positive change in our lowest-performing schools, 
where groups of students are not making progress, and where graduation 
rates are low over extended periods of time.
  The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) passed as a 
cornerstone of President Lyndon. B. Johnson's War on Poverty was signed 
into law on April 9, 1965.
  This law brought education into the forefront of the national assault 
on poverty and represented a landmark commitment to equal access to 
quality education.
  The ESEA is a comprehensive statute that funds primary and secondary 
education, emphasizing high standards and accountability.
  As mandated in the Act, funds are authorized for professional 
development, instructional materials, resources to support educational 
programs, and the promotion of parental involvement.
  The government has reauthorized the Act every five years since its 
enactment.
  President Johnson believed that full educational opportunity should 
be our first national goal.
  From its inception, ESEA was a civil rights law.
  ESEA offered new grants to districts serving low-income students, 
federal grants for textbooks and library books, funding for special 
education centers, and scholarships for low-income college students.
  Additionally, the law provided federal grants to state educational 
agencies to improve the quality of elementary and secondary education.
  The previous version of the law, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, 
was enacted in 2002.
  NCLB represented a significant step forward for our nation's children 
in many respects, particularly as it shined a light on where students 
were making progress and where they needed additional support, 
regardless of race, income, zip code, disability, home language, or 
background.
  NCLB put in place measures that exposed achievement gaps among 
traditionally underserved students and their peers and spurred an 
important national dialogue on education improvement.
  This focus on accountability has been critical in ensuring a quality 
education for all children, yet also revealed challenges in the 
effective implementation of this goal.
  The law was scheduled for revision in 2007, and, over time, NCLB's 
prescriptive requirements became increasingly unworkable for schools 
and educators.
  Parents, educators, and elected officials across the country 
recognized that a strong, updated law was necessary to expand 
opportunity to all students; support schools, teachers, and principals; 
and to strengthen our education system and economy.
  Recognizing this fact, in 2010, the Obama Administration joined a 
call from educators and families to create a better law that focused on 
the clear goal of fully preparing all students for success in college 
and careers.
  Congress has responded to that call allowing the Every Student 
Succeeds Act to reflect many of the priorities previously debated.
  Additionally, in 2012, the Obama Administration began granting 
flexibility to states regarding specific requirements of NCLB in 
exchange for rigorous and comprehensive state-developed plans designed 
to close achievement gaps, increase equity, improve the quality of 
instruction, and increase outcomes for all students.
  The law today, offers flexibility to states from some of the 
previously more cumbersome provisions.
  In order to qualify for this flexibility, states have to demonstrate 
that they have adopted college and career-ready standards and 
assessments, implemented school accountability systems that focused on 
the lowest-performing schools and those with the largest achievement 
gaps, and ensured that districts were implementing teacher and 
principal evaluation and support systems.
  These efforts should not be compromised.
  H.J. Res. 57 however, puts politics before America's 50 million 
public school students.
  It takes an axe to a consensus-driven ESSA rule that was developed 
with, and supported by, the broader education community, including 
states, districts, civil rights groups, parents, and teachers.
  Republicans want blanket deregulation of federal education programs 
in an attempt to stall implementation of equity-focused provisions and 
allow states and districts the ultimate flexibility to ignore laws and 
federal requirements intended to protect disadvantaged students.
  The CRA has been used only once in Congress' history.
  Using it to block regulatory action to support and improve public 
education is extreme and a gross abuse of power.
  Resolutions introduced by Republicans in the last week, including 
H.J. Res. 57, set a

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dangerous precedent by permanently undermining the Department of 
Education and all federal agencies.
  ESSA was passed in December of 2015 with overwhelming bipartisan and 
bicameral support, and H.J. Res. 57 is a political power play that 
would undo enforcement of key equity protections in this bipartisan 
civil rights law.
  States are currently drafting plans to implement this very 
regulation.
  ESSA affords states and districts unprecedented flexibility.
  H.J. Res. 57 would pull the rug out from under states and districts 
that are working hard to ensure the civil rights legacy of the law, 
leaving them without the clarity and direction needed to fully use new 
flexibilities and meet federal requirements.
  H.J. Res. 57 strikes at the heart of ESSA. Blocking implementation 
and reregulation of ESSA's core requirements in accountability, state 
plans, and data and reporting will leave States in limbo and jeopardize 
protections for vulnerable students that Democrats championed in 
reauthorization.
  If unhappy with the final rule, the Trump Administration should use 
administrative tools at its disposal to amend and revise the 
regulation.
  Use of CRA is a political gimmick that harms students, teachers, and 
taxpayers.
  I urge you to oppose this Republican scare tactic of a bill

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