[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Page 11181]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        EVERY CHILD ACHIEVES ACT

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, No Child Left Behind laid the 
groundwork for important reforms to our education system. But with its 
authorization expiring in 2007, and with the previous Senate majority 
failing to replace it with a serious proposal, many of the original 
requirements stayed in place anyway and gradually became unworkable.
  This resulted in a lot of States getting tangled up in endless 
bureaucracy, reducing their ability to focus on boosting achievement 
and school performance. That was certainly true in the Commonwealth I 
represent. Kentucky was actually the first State to petition for some 
freedom from the law's requirements, and with that additional 
flexibility came better results.
  Kentucky improved its graduation rate, climbing into the top 10 among 
all States. Kentucky increased the number of students who met statewide 
standards. Kentucky raised the percentage of students entering 
postsecondary education programs, increasing that number from about 
half to more than 68 percent in just a few years' time.
  So this additional flexibility has been good for Kentucky but only to 
a point, because the White House began to tack on more and more 
requirements as a condition of continued relief from the original law's 
mandates, leaving many States in an untenable situation. This is how 
the White House was able to impose Common Core in many places that 
didn't necessarily want it. In a sense, the flexibility one hand gave, 
the other has continually taken away.
  It is clear that temporary relief, strapped with other Federal 
mandates, is not a workable choice for States. This is why we need 
congressional action to replace the broken husks that remain of No 
Child Left Behind with reforms that build on the good ideas in the 
original law while doing away with the bad ones.
  That is what the bipartisan Every Child Achieves Act before us would, 
in fact, achieve. It would grow the kind of flexibility we have seen 
work so well in States such as Kentucky, and it would stop Federal 
bureaucrats from imposing the kind of top-down, one-size-fits-all 
requirements that we all know threaten that progress.
  Kentucky has already seen success with the limited and conditional 
flexibility granted to it so far. So just imagine what States such as 
Kentucky could achieve when fully empowered to do what is right for 
their students. This is how Kentucky education commissioner Terry 
Holliday put it in a letter he sent in support of this bill:

       I can attest based on our experience that the waiver 
     process is onerous and allows too many opportunities for 
     federal intrusion into state responsibility for education. 
     The long-term health of public education in the United States 
     requires reauthorization and an end to the use of the waiver 
     as a patch on an otherwise impractical system of 
     requirements.

  He is, of course, just right, and we have never been closer to 
achieving the kind of outcome our kids deserve. Many thought Washington 
could never solve this issue, but the bill before us was supported 
unanimously by Republicans and Democrats in committee. Members of both 
parties are having a chance now to offer and vote on amendments to the 
bill too. We had several amendment votes yesterday. I expect more 
today. If our colleagues from either side of the aisle have more ideas 
to offer, I would ask them to work with Senator Alexander and Senator 
Murray to get them moving.
  This is what a Senate that is back to work looks like. With continued 
bipartisan cooperation, this is a Senate that can prove the pundits 
wrong again by passing another important measure to help our country 
and our kids.
  Remember, the House of Representatives already passed its own No 
Child Left Behind replacement just last night, as it has done 
repeatedly in years past. Now is the time for the Senate to finally get 
its act together after 7 years of missed deadlines on this issue. A new 
Senate majority believes that the time for action and bipartisan reform 
should be now, and with continued cooperation from our friends across 
the aisle, it will be.

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