Student Success Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Chairman, I stand today in support of parents, teachers, and our communities. I stand in support of local government versus Federal Government. And most importantly, I stand in support of our children and urge my colleagues to pass the Student Success Act.
I want to thank the distinguished gentleman from Minnesota for his leadership and the members of the Committee on Education and the Workforce for their efforts in writing this legislation.
The Student Success Act is a huge step forward that empowers parents and teachers to make decisions regarding the education of our children while maintaining high expectations and measuring teacher effectiveness. For far too long, Federal education bureaucrats have sucked up needed education dollars and hamstrung our teachers, but they've done little to improve education in our Nation. And now they want what really amounts to a national curriculum. But is there any doubt bureaucratic red tape and a one-size-fits-all approach have left far too many of our children behind?
We wrote this legislation because we believe that parents and teachers care for our children more than career bureaucrats at the Department of Education. We trust parents. We trust ourselves. We trust the States and our communities to determine what success is and how best to achieve it.
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the SENSE Charter School in my home State of Indiana. What I saw in the students there was nothing short of young people who were reaching and even exceeding their potential. What that visit also showed--and I've seen it in other schools and read it in letters I've received and saw it again as recently as this week at the Two Rivers Charter School in Washington, D.C.--was that, when given a choice, Mr. Chairman, parents will put their children in the schools that best fit their education needs and not the bureaucrats. Choice works. And funding shouldn't be tied to cookie-cutter Washington standards. It should be about what works and what doesn't work.
SENSE Charter School was just one more example of the fact that the best ideas don't come from the top down, don't come from Congress, or even from the executive branch. They come from those who know and care the most about our children--and that's parents and communities. It's time to step back and truly ask what's best for our children and families.
I came to Washington as part of a new crew who came here to change how Washington does business. The Student Success Act is certainly different by Washington standards, as we've just heard. Those on the other side of the aisle always advocate education policy that tells us as parents and as teachers that Washington knows best and that problems can only be solved with a new program and a bigger bureaucracy. This is nothing short of arrogant, Mr. Chairman. Frankly, it's pessimistic. It's pessimistic because it says that, when given the opportunity to make decisions in the best interest of children, parents will fail and that Washington is smarter.
I'm an optimist, and I'm also a realist. We are optimistic that parents know what is best for their children. They need us to cut the Washington red tape blocking their way. And for our optimism we are likely to be the subject of demagoguery during this debate. Critics will say we want to harm children by cutting funding from a massive bureaucracy in Washington. We just heard some of that. Of course, they ignore the track record of a bureaucracy that treats our children as nothing more than nameless, faceless statistics; a bureaucracy that demands we continue throwing good money after bad because these false arguments have been around for far too long.
If we are to truly be a society that prioritizes education and the success of our children, we must no longer blindly throw money away. We must trust in parents and teachers to know what is best for students, not the President and not the Secretary of Education. This bill does that.
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Mr. ROKITA. The Student Success Act empowers parents and teachers, maintains high standards and measures of teacher effectiveness, reduces the enormous footprint of the Federal education bureaucracy, and finally gives parents, teachers, and States the flexibility they need, Mr. Chairman, in setting curriculum and educating our children.
I urge, again, all of my colleagues to support this bill.
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Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Chair, as one of the authors of the underlying legislation, I'll be the first to admit that going through the progress that we have laid out in this House has the potential to only make the legislation better.
In that vein, this amendment, as I understand the gen tle lady to propose it, supports the tutoring and public school choice options in the Direct Student Services program. Tutoring services and public school choice are key programs to ensure students have the opportunity to access critical educational help or to find a school that better fits their needs.
We know, through study after study, through letter after letter, through parent interview after parent interview, that students who have access to tutoring services do better in school, those who are in a school that fits their learning style better.
This is a minor amendment to the important program that I think already exists in the underlying law, and it says that if there is not enough funding in the State to support all of the applications for direct student services, that it should prioritize the vulnerable populations, rather than look at supporting the lowest-performing schools. So, either way, the important thing is to help students have access to high-quality tutoring and school choice.
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Mr. ROKITA. In closing, I'd like to urge my colleagues, as well, to support this amendment and the Student Success Act in its entirety.
And in response to the debate we've seen here on the floor this afternoon, Mr. Chairman, so far, I'd like to say that there are many organizations in support of the Student Success Act, including the American Association of School Administrators, the National School Boards Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Council for American Private Education, the Association of Christian Schools International, Concerned Women for America, National Association of Independent Schools, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and many more.
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Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Chairman, as I read the gentlewoman's amendment, I see that it will protect title II funding to high poverty school districts.
Now, although the Student Success Act, which we are debating here on the House floor right now, funds school districts on an equal playing field--basing the formula on a 50 percent poverty and a 50 percent population ratio--it is important to protect funding to high poverty school districts. The amendment will not allow the new title II formula to go into effect until the Secretary certifies that funding to these school districts is protected at fiscal year 2013 levels and that new money allotted will be allocated on a 65 percent poverty and a 35 percent population formula.
The bottom line is that, in using these funds, the Student Success Act gives States and school districts the flexibility to decide how they want to spend their money. This is not our money. This is the property of the States and the States' residents. Funds flow over to the State and local levels so they can set their own priorities for programs that they want to fund to meet the needs of their students. This ensures superintendents, principals and teachers are the ones making funding decisions--not Washington bureaucrats or even the Secretary of Education--that benefit students. Public and private entities can also apply to the State, in partnership with school districts, for funds to run innovative programs focused on teacher and school leader preparation and development.
Although I disagree with the gentlewoman that the Student Success Act is a retreat--in fact, I think there is a very progressive set of reforms found in the Student Success Act--I do support her amendment, which protects funding for high poverty districts, and the Student Success Act, which gives districts the flexibility to use teacher funds in the way they think is best.
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Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Chairman, in closing, again, I rise in support of this amendment.
I would say to the gen tle lady from Florida, who just spoke, that this is not experimenting with our children. We are empowering parents, and we are empowering teachers so that the students can have better success. In my opinion, this is an evolution of our education policy.
In that same vein, the gentlewoman said that teachers matter. In that respect, I want to reiterate for this House those who have shown in writing their strong support for the Student Success Act, including: the American Association of School Administrators, the National School Boards Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Council for American Private Education, the Association of Christian Schools International, Concerned Women for America, the National Association of Independent Schools, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and the National Association of Charter School Authorizers.
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Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Colorado for offering this amendment, along with Mr. Petri for his work on this amendment. It's another example of the fact that as we work through this process in committee and here on the House floor, there's a lot of opportunity for the bill to get better and for the language to get better. And I say that as just one of the authors.
I rise in support of this amendment, which clarifies some of the uses for charter school startup grants and ensures charter schools are reaching out to underserved populations so they may have an opportunity to attend a charter school.
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the SENSE Charter School in my home State of Indiana. What I saw in the students there was, again, nothing short of young people who are reaching and exceeding their potential.
What that visit also showed--and I have seen it in other schools as well, including one right here in Washington, D.C. this week--is that when given the choice, parents will put their children in the school that best fits their educational needs. Choice works, and funding shouldn't be tied to any kind of cookie-cutter standards or programs. It should be about what works and what doesn't.
Parents know their children. As we've heard on the House floor all afternoon and into the evening, I dare anyone here in Washington to say, Mr. Chairman, that they know our children better than we do. They are the best to make the evaluation, not bureaucrats.
Charter schools level the playing field for children of all different socioeconomic backgrounds. They allow parents, regardless of their means, to get their children out of a school not meeting their needs and find an educational environment that fits their unique learning style.
The charter school startup grants are a critical resource to help open more charter schools to provide greater choice for students. So instead of throwing good money after bad on failed education bureaucracy, let's devote these funds to good programs to help prepare charter school teachers and classrooms to make a lasting difference in the lives of our children.
So once again, I appreciate both gentlemen's support for charter schools. I would urge the House to support the amendment and also to support the Student Success Act.
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Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Chair, I am supportive of this amendment, which merely adds a requirement for grantees under the Family Engagement Centers to conduct outreach to low-income families, as I understand the gen tle lady's presentation.
The intent of this program is to help parents better engage with their students to increase their academic achievement. I certainly support these centers reaching out to low-income families to help them.
I appreciate my colleague's effort on this provision, and I urge support of the amendment, as well as the entire Student Success Act.
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Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for his language. I think this is a good amendment and was pleased to incorporate it into the manager's amendment.
Too often we hear concerns that States have to participate in these programs or have to comply with unfair rules. This amendment will clearly establish the rights of States to opt out of the programs and further clarify that States cannot be forced to participate in any program.
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Mr. ROKITA. I thank the gentleman for his amendment, and I rise in strong support of this amendment.
Mr. Chairman, this is an authorizing bill. This is the appropriate place to have this language and this discussion. In fact, it builds on language that is already in the bill. Of course, during the appropriations process, it is also a good time to have this discussion.
It strikes me that, if those entrusted to manage our Federal Government had effectively managed their resources, maybe something like sequestration, itself, wouldn't have alarmed so many of them. This amendment certainly wouldn't be necessary if there were responsible management of the bureaucracy. Manage your resources responsibly or Congress will have to. That's simply what this amendment does.
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