[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11002]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   STUDENT SUCCESS ACT FAILS STUDENTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Alabama (Ms. Sewell) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to express my strong 
opposition to H.R. 5, the so-called Student Success Act. I am deeply 
disappointed in the majority for bringing such an economically careless 
and socially egregious bill to the floor today.
  If passed, H.R. 5 would take more than $7 million from the highest 
need schools in my home State of Alabama. It is really an abomination 
that this body would do this to our constituents and do this to our 
students.
  H.R. 5 abandons the Federal Government's historic role in elementary 
and secondary education. Furthermore, this bill neglects our sacred 
responsibility to ensure that all children, irrespective of race, 
class, disability, or socioeconomic class, are given the opportunity to 
attain a high quality education.
  Each of us in this body has the opportunity to send our own children 
to the finest K-12 institutions in this country, but our privilege 
isn't universal, and we shouldn't legislate as if it is.
  In the Seventh Congressional District of Alabama, that privilege, the 
ability to send our children to the private schools or public schools 
of choice, is nearly nonexistent.

                              {time}  1045

  More than 70 percent of the public school students in my district 
receive free or reduced lunch, and they live in families that live 
below the poverty line. And of the 26 school districts that serve my 
constituents, only two of them have a poverty rate that is less than 56 
percent.
  The Elementary and Secondary Education Act was first written in 
recognition of the impact that concentrated poverty has on a school 
system's ability to adequately support the educational programs needed 
to serve vulnerable communities.
  But H.R. 5 would strip the ESEA of the protections for these students 
by diverting title I funds. This approach is backwards, and our 
children deserve better. If I were grading this bill, I would 
definitely give it an F.
  As a proud product of Selma High School, this is deeply personal to 
me. Today more than 90 percent of the Selma High School students in my 
district, from my old high school, receive free and reduced lunch. 
Under H.R. 5, this school would lose nearly 20 percent of its Federal 
funding.
  The greatest opportunity that we can give any child is a quality 
education. This is why I cannot support this bill, which diverts title 
I funds from 92 percent of the schools in my district. This would 
further tilt the playing field against poor kids.
  These children belong to all of us. Unfortunately, this bill is proof 
that somewhere along the line we have abandoned the most sacred 
American principle, that all children--I mean all children--are our 
children.
  We cannot deny that a rising tide lifts all boats. The economic and 
social costs of refusing to accept these facts are steep.
  When President Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act in 1964, he stated, ``As President of the United States, I believe 
deeply no law I have signed or will ever sign means more to the future 
of America than this bill.'' President Johnson was right then, and he 
is right now.
  To promote our educational progress, we must replace No Child Left 
Behind with a strong bipartisan bill, one that advances what works and 
improves upon what does not. Unfortunately, this bill does neither.
  I urge this body to oppose this reckless bill, H.R. 5. Our children 
deserve better. Our constituents deserve better. This Nation deserves 
better.

                          ____________________