[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6114-6115]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   SAVE THE CHILDREN OF THE NORTH FOREST INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, over the past couple of weeks, in my 
district, we've been working with a very small school district by the 
name of North Forest Independent School District, of about 7,000 young 
people,

[[Page 6115]]

bright, energetic and prepared to reach and fulfill their future.
  Unfortunately, the State of Texas chooses to close that school, not 
because they are not meeting the Leave No Child Behind, but because one 
high school did not meet the threshold by two students. Over the next 
couple of days, we expect to hear from the State to ask this district 
to terminate all employees.
  We offered to the State a collaborative response of having them to 
work with public charters and work with the public school system, 
keeping it a public school system. We again ask the State of Texas, the 
Governor of the State of Texas, who has refused to give Federal funds 
for education back to the districts, you know why? Maybe it's because 
of sequester.
  But more importantly, I want to save those students, I want to save 
those employees, and I believe we can do it by eliminating the 
sequester.
  I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 900, a one-sentence bill to 
eliminate the sequester. These children at the North Forest Independent 
School District deserve to be able to graduate from a public school. It 
is shameful that they will be getting a notice of their beloved 
teachers, fire them all.
  I will go home to the district and stand against it. I ask for relief 
from the U.S. Department of Education and all of those who believe in 
educating our children and being responsible to our teachers who teach 
them and love them.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. As the Chair previously advised, that 
request cannot be entertained absent appropriate clearance.

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