[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12151]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ACT REAUTHORIZATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Loretta Sanchez) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, last week, thanks to 
the leadership of the Senate HELP Committee, Chairman Lamar Alexander 
and Ranking Member Patty Murray, the Senate passed a bipartisan bill 
known as the Every Child Achieves Act that would reauthorize the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This is the law the Federal 
Government has with respect to kindergarten through twelfth grade 
education.
  I applaud my Senate colleagues for reaching across the aisle and 
working collectively in good faith to expand access to early childhood 
education to improve programs for English language learners and to 
ensure accountability in serving our neediest students.
  It is far from perfect. But in 2002, the reauthorization of the same 
act, known as No Child Left Behind, was implemented.
  It gave this principle that we would look at the students who are 
falling through the cracks. It meant to serve our poor and minority 
students, students with disabilities, and English learners.
  After all, let's not forget that the original ESEA, the original one 
in 1965, had an exact declaration of policy that said ``in recognition 
of the special education needs of children of low-income families.'' 
This landmark legislation in 1965 is a civil rights law.
  It reaffirmed Brown v. Board of Education. It reaffirmed the 1947 
Mendez v. Westminster decision, which happened in my own district, 
which was the precursor to Brown v. Board. It said every child has the 
right to an equal opportunity for a quality education.
  Let's be honest. We are in the wake of a civil rights movement in 
this country. When we see tragedies in Ferguson, to Charleston, to 
presidential candidates issuing condemnations to immigrant families who 
come and who contribute to this country, to milestone victories where 
we see all individuals throughout the States may choose to marry the 
ones that they love, we can no longer ignore the social and the 
economic issues our great Nation is currently facing.
  It all starts in our classrooms, in the quality of the education and 
the fundamental values that we impart to our children.
  That is why I am also extremely disappointed in the House version of 
the ESEA where it limits the opportunity for our neediest students.
  The Student Success Act--this is the one that the Republicans are 
putting forward--would take away $3 billion over the next 6 years from 
the 32 largest school districts and most diverse school districts in 
our Nation, by the way, many of those students being Black and Latino. 
While the Senate's Every Child Achieves Act accomplishes tremendous 
feats in expanding access, the House bill actually does not.
  So what do we do? We must make sure that the bills that we pass have 
actions intended in them. The Senate bill, for example, makes actions 
optional when schools are not meeting goals while eliminating 
requirements for States to identify schools that are in need of 
intervention where it is detrimental to the progress of the children.
  So laws must require timely State action to address the inequities 
where they persist so that we can provide the Federal resources and the 
support to the lowest performing schools.
  Everyone hates talking about accountability. But, without it, we 
cannot help our low-performing students get back on track. Without 
clear expectations for reporting inaction, we are doing a disservice to 
students. These students will fall through the cracks.
  I look around this room and I am proud to say that I am a public 
school kid and many of us in this Chamber are. We are products of our 
Nation's public school systems.
  Look at us. Our communities have chosen us to be their voice. Our 
communities have chosen us to be their advocates and to fight for them 
in the classroom.
  And I am sure that each of us has had an administrator, a teacher, a 
principal, who believed in us and put us on the right track so that we 
might be where we are today.
  As I continuously reflect on my own experience, the daughter of poor 
immigrants from Mexico, first generation and low income and a child 
that the original ESEA was meant to serve, I ask my colleagues, let's 
work together and pass a bill that really helps our children.

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