[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12711-12712]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   FULL-SERVICE COMMUNITY SCHOOLS ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. Madam Speaker, I rise today, alongside my Republican 
colleague from Illinois, Representative Aaron Schock, who is here to 
speak about the Full-Service Community Schools Act of 2014, which we 
will be introducing later today. This is an issue that I have been 
working on, Madam Speaker, for several years, one that will help us 
close the achievement gap that too many of our children face.
  Our bipartisan bill creates a competitive grant program to expand the 
full-service community schools model across the country. Full-service 
community schools are an innovative approach to help students and their 
parents access a full range of critical services all in one place. Let 
me emphasize these are services that are currently available but that 
are not as accessible because they are not centralized. We will 
encourage communities to put together the services that they already 
provide in an accessible way for children and their families.
  For low-income parents who are working multiple jobs as they send 
their kids to school, finding time to provide them with adequate 
medical checkups and dental screenings is often very difficult. The 
full-service community schools model locates these services at their 
children's schools, along with nutritional counseling, financial 
literacy education, and adult classes--services that in most 
communities are already offered--to make it easier for both students 
and parents to access these services under one roof. It also helps 
ensure parents have the tools they need to support their children's 
learning--so critically important to the children's success. Studies 
show that when children are healthy they learn better and have a better 
chance at academic success.
  Maryland has been employing this model for several years now in the 
form of Judy Centers, named for my late wife, Judy Hoyer, who was an 
early childhood administrator in Prince George's County. The Maryland 
State Department of Education has found that children accessing 
services at Judy Centers perform better than their peers who did not 
when tested for kindergarten readiness. I know the gentleman from 
Illinois has similar evidence from a full-service community school 
program in his State. In his district, in fact, his university from 
which he graduated partners with that full-service school, Bradley 
University in Peoria.
  The results are clear that the full-service community schools model 
has the potential--and in fact, in our own State, we have realized that 
potential--to help millions of low-income

[[Page 12712]]

families across the country ensure that their children can do well in 
school and have a better shot at being college or career ready when 
they graduate. This is good for America. It is good for the children. 
It is good for their families. It is good for our competitiveness. This 
legislation, Madam Speaker, is an example of what is possible when we 
set differences aside and work together.
  Now, Aaron Schock is a good friend of mine. He is a Republican and I 
am a Democrat, and some say, well, that doesn't really happen in 
Washington--but it does. Outside of the ambit of this bill, Aaron and I 
have worked on a number of pieces of legislation, and I am proud of the 
fact that we are working on this legislation together on behalf of 
children, on behalf of families, on behalf of our country. This 
legislation is an example of what is possible when we set our 
differences aside, as I said. We work together across the aisle to make 
progress for those who are trying to make it in America for themselves 
and for their families.
  I want to thank Representative Schock for partnering with me on this 
effort, and I hope this Congress can come together, as the two of us 
have done, and work in a bipartisan fashion to pass this bill without 
delay.

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