[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 10898]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        EVERY CHILD ACHIEVES ACT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, Republicans and Democrats have long 
agreed that the No Child Left Behind law is broken and needs to be 
fixed, but the Senate didn't do anything about it for 7 long years, 
missing its deadlines repeatedly.
  The new majority in Congress thought it was time to change that 
dynamic. We thought it was time for bipartisan action instead. That is 
why we are taking up the Every Child Achieves Act today. It is 
bipartisan legislation drafted by a Republican former Education 
Secretary, Senator Alexander, and a Democratic former preschool 
teacher, Senator Murray. It passed through committee with the support 
of every single Democrat and every single Republican.
  Just think about it. From third rail to unanimous bipartisan support, 
now that is an impressive achievement. It shows how a functioning 
committee process and a functioning Senate can, with hard work from 
Senators such as Alexander and Murray, break through the gridlock. It 
is another encouraging sign for Americans who like what they are seeing 
from a new Congress that is back to work and back on their side.
  The American people know education is an issue that touches almost 
every single person in our country. They know how critical it is to our 
children's future and many are upset with an education system in 
desperate need of reform.
  Although No Child Left Behind was well intentioned and laid the 
ground work for important reform to our education system, it is now 
clear that some of its requirements have become unachievable. For 
instance, basically every school is now considered failing under the 
law, and because the law has become so broken, the administration has 
found ways to effectively dictate education policy from the executive 
branch. That is not the right approach for our kids. The White House 
shouldn't be trying to run your local school board.
  The Every Child Achieves Act would put an end to that kind of control 
from thousands of miles away. It would do so by eliminating onerous 
Federal mandates and reining in the power of the executive branch so 
States cannot be coerced into adopting measures such as Common Core.
  Instead of more Federal control, the bipartisan Every Child Achieves 
Act aims to empower teachers, parents, and students to improve 
education where they live. It would restore responsibility and 
accountability to States and local school districts. It would give them 
increased flexibility to design and implement their own education 
standards and programs. This bipartisan bill would also allow States to 
develop their own accountability models to include other measures 
beyond testing to determine student achievement and school quality and 
to determine the best ways to turn around underperforming schools.
  Nothing out of Washington could ever solve all of our education 
challenges overnight, but the Every Child Achieves Act takes positive 
steps forward. It recognizes that your local school board shouldn't, in 
effect, be run from hundreds or even thousands of miles away. It 
recognizes that States and parents are going to know far more about the 
needs of their schools and their students than some detached bureaucrat 
in Washington. There are ideas both parties should support and, in 
fact, there are ideas both parties just did support unanimously in 
committee.
  If Senators have changes they would like to see in the bill, now is 
the time for colleagues to work with the bill managers to get their 
amendments moving. We already have several lined up.
  This is a good debate for the country, so let's continue working 
cooperatively across the aisle to empower States and parents, instead 
of Federal bureaucrats, to enact the education policies that actually 
work for their students.

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