[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 7608]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                     NATIONAL CHARTER SCHOOLS WEEK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Woodall) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WOODALL. Mr. Speaker, so often folks will use this time in the 
morning to draw attention to failures or to divisions, but I want to 
use this time to draw attention to successes.
  This is National Charter Schools Week, among other things, Mr. 
Speaker, and I happen to have two charter schools in my district. I 
represent only two counties, Mr. Speaker, Gwinnett County and Forsyth 
County, in the great State of Georgia. Both have outstanding public 
school systems.
  And so often when we start talking about charter schools, Mr. 
Speaker, we talk about an either/or, as if somehow charter schools and 
public schools are in competition with one another, but that is not the 
story that I tell from the great State of Georgia. In fact, Gwinnett 
County, one of my two counties, won the Broad Prize in 2010 for the 
absolute finest urban education school district in the Nation. 
Interestingly, they are now reeligible to win that prize again this 
year after a 3-year waiting period. They are in the final two. Just 
amazing stories of young people and their successes. And they come 
through, among other things, two charter schools in my district.
  We have the Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology, 
GSMST, Mr. Speaker. They don't have a football team. They have a 
robotics team, and an outstanding robotics team at that. If you want a 
future in the STEM fields, you can find no better education in the 
United States of America than the Gwinnett School of Mathematics, 
Science, and Technology, and it is free if you just happen to live in 
Gwinnett County. A wonderful story of success through the charter 
school program. Absolutely any student in the county is eligible. In 
fact, it takes a lottery to get in, Mr. Speaker, because so many young 
people, so many families want their children to be able to avail 
themselves of this charter school program.
  The Washington Post called it the 17th most challenging high school 
in the land. U.S. News & World Report called it the third best high 
school in the land. I, of course, believe it is the number one best 
high school in the land, but an amazing testimony of what you can do 
when you free an institution, when you free the teachers, when you free 
the students to be the very best they can be.
  Now, right next door, Mr. Speaker, to GSMST, the Gwinnett School of 
Mathematics, Science, and Technology, we have the Maxwell High School 
of Technology. Now, the Maxwell School aims to take folks, these young 
people who are trying to find their way in life, and prepare them for a 
job tomorrow--program after program, Mr. Speaker, whether it is Web 
design, whether it is welding, architecture, technology field after 
technology field, not thought of theoretically, Mr. Speaker, but 
thought of from how can you graduate from high school and begin to 
provide for yourself and your family. That is not available in the 
normal public schools, but it is available at the Maxwell High School 
of Technology. And again, any student in Gwinnett County is welcome to 
come and be there.
  Mr. Speaker, we still live in a land where there is more that unites 
us than divides us. We still live in a land that brings people together 
rather than tears people apart, and the charter school debate should be 
that debate. It should be the debate not that pits public schools 
against private schools; it should be the debate that brings us 
together around making sure that every young person in this land, every 
family in this land who has a dream of what they want to do with their 
life, that we have the public schools in this land that can help them 
fulfill that dream.
  Mr. Speaker, we are doing that successfully in the Seventh District 
of Georgia, and I look forward to joining my colleagues in this Chamber 
to make sure we can do that successfully in every single congressional 
district in this land.

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