[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 11, 2022)]
[House]
[Pages H11-H12]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                KEEPING SCHOOLS OPEN MUST BE A PRIORITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, against science and common sense, many 
traditional government schools continue to shut children out of the 
classroom.
  The Biden administration has repeatedly put the political agenda of 
teachers' unions above the needs of children.
  Throughout this pandemic, the Biden administration has ignored the 
concerns of parents and has, instead, crafted its COVID-19 school 
guidelines in accord with the demands of union bosses.
  The Biden administration's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
consulted American Federation of Teachers, AFT, President Randi 
Weingarten for help in shaping guidance on school reopening. Entrusting 
a union boss and major campaign donor to make public health decisions 
is completely unacceptable.
  Teachers' unions took full advantage of the pandemic. They bullied 
and coerced the Biden administration until they got almost everything 
they asked for. Anytime the Biden administration resisted their 
demands, these unions had a meltdown, publicly shaming the 
administration, staging sick-outs, and making their demands even more 
elaborate and unreasonable.
  According to CDC guidance, schools can safely stay open. The data 
proves that schools are not and have never been a major vector of 
spread. Yet, even with all the scientific data, teachers' unions are 
holding their ground at the cost of students' well-being.
  This pandemic has taken a major toll on young people. Children, who 
are at the lowest risk of being made seriously ill by COVID-19, have 
been forced out of the classrooms by the demands of teachers' unions.
  Forcing students to learn behind a screen has led to devastating 
consequences. According to a report by Curriculum Associates, the 
number of students testing at two or more grade levels below their own 
grade has significantly increased since the pandemic. The numbers are 
worse for students who are already at risk.
  For example, 49 percent of third graders who come from low-income 
areas are now two or more grade levels behind in reading and math. This 
is an increase of 10 to 12 percent since before the pandemic began.
  Because of school closures, many students have also been suffering 
from isolation, depression, and anxiety. It was alarming to read that 
the number of ER visits for suspected suicide attempts by teenage girls 
rose from early 2019 to early 2021 by 51 percent.

  This is a public health crisis in and of itself yet one that is being 
ignored by many of the decisionmakers at both the national and local 
level in favor of special interest groups like the AFT.

[[Page H12]]

  That is why Republicans at the Education and Labor Committee have 
been fighting so hard to keep schools open. We know the stakes are 
high.
  This pandemic has made it abundantly clear that teachers' unions, as 
well as the education establishment, have too much power. Neither union 
bosses nor bureaucrats in Washington should be able to keep our 
children from the classroom. Access to education is an important right 
in this country, one that teachers' unions are belittling with their 
outrageous demands.
  What has the outsized influence of teachers' unions produced? Less 
school choice, falling education standards, explicit material in school 
libraries, critical race theory-inspired curriculum, and years of 
learning loss.
  Teachers' unions have become far less about protecting teachers or 
students and far more about promoting a left-wing political agenda. 
This was made clear when the teachers' unions in several major cities 
joined forces with the Democratic Socialists of America to demand an 
eviction moratorium and an end to voucher programs as conditions for 
reopening schools.
  The longer we let these union bosses take advantage of this pandemic, 
the worse off our students will be. Students should no longer take a 
back seat to politics or special interests.
  It is time to stop catering to teachers' unions and to start serving 
the needs of students.

                          ____________________