Date: 2013-07-18
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chair. I yield myself 5 minutes. Mr. Chair. I rise in opposition to H.R. 5. the Letting Students Down Act. H.R. 5 is supposed to be the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and a rewrite of No Child Left Behind. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act was born out of Brown v. Board of Education. It is our Nations education law. but it is fundamentally a civil rights law. H.R. 5 runs our country in the opposite direction from those civil rights promises. This bill guts funding for public education. It abdicates the Federal Governments responsibility to ensure that every child has the right to an equal opportunity and a quality education. And it walks away from our duty to hold school systems accountable to students. parents and taxpayers. For decades. providing all children with a quality education has been considered such a critical national priority that we have always found a way to come together in a bipartisan fashion to reauthorize and to update the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. We all recognize that a good education is a great equalizer. no matter where you come from. and it is necessary for a strong economy and a vibrant democracy. Each reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. in its own way. has moved our national education system forward. Thats why nowSpeaker JOHN BOEHNER and I worked with thenSenator Ted Kennedy and President George W. Bush in crafting the No Child Left Behind Act more than a decade ago. We agreed that there was a soft bigotry of low expectations in our education system. We agreed that schools were hiding low achievement by some students by using the averages of performance in the schools. and it was wrong. Parents wanted to know how their child was doing. not how the average child in the school was doing. No Child Left Behind turned the lights on inside our Nations schools. For the first time. parents could see whether or not their schools were actually teaching all students. Were they serving their student? And in the decade since the law has been in effect. the evidence is irrefutable that all kids can learn. given the opportunity to succeed. regardless of their background. just given a chance. However. as someone who has listened to experts in communities across the Nation and its pros and cons. I recognize that we now need to modernize the education law. No Child Left Behind. with fundamental changes. No Child Left Behind is very much the education reform of the past. It is inflexible. and encouraged some to lower their standards. to reduce their standards. to dumb down their standards. which this Nation cannot tolerate. Thats why its time to rewrite this law. to embrace the principle that all students can learn if theyre given an opportunity. and to encourage high standards that meet the needs of the 21st century global economy. Unfortunately. H.R. 5 moves our education system in the wrong direction for students and schools already struggling under a broken system. and lets American kids down at a critical time. H.R. 5 lets our students down by not guaranteeing all students have access to worldclass. wellrounded educational opportunities needed to compete in a global economy. It lets our students down by locking sequestration cuts into education funding. It allows funds to be moved away from schools with the most poverty. and removes the requirements of States and districts to adequately fund their schools. It lets down students with disabilities by allowing schools to lower their standards for educating these children. And it lets our students down by not building on a broad consensus that we should continue to demand high standards of all students. An extraordinary cross section of business. labor. civil rights. disabilities and education groups are opposing this bill because it lets our Nations children down. It lets our economy down. The National Center for Learning Disabilities says that this bill would dramatically alter the academic landscape for students with disabilities. jeopardizing their ability to graduate from high school or to go to college or to obtain employment. The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights believes that the merit of an education bill is determined by its treatment of the most disadvantaged among us. Yet H.R. 5 permits Federal funds targeted for this vulnerable group of students. such as English language learners and Native American students. to be reallocated for other purposes. The business community opposes this bill. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is disappointed that the bill "does not demand targeted support and real improvement for students stuck in lowperforming schools or for students whose schools are not teaching them the basics in reading and math." I agree with these concerns. This bill is a huge step outside the mainstream consensus and an even bigger step backward for our Nations students. We should be embracing the drive towards high standards across this country and ensuring that all of our children in all States benefit from this improved education system.