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

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. This is a fundamental debate that we will be having now as we enter the amendment process for this legislation. This is really a debate about whether we go backwards or forwards as a Nation. Every Member of this CongressI believe I would be correct in sayingboth in the House and the Senatehas told their constituents how important it is that we have a worldclass education system and how we are falling behind other nations. Yet we see here the consideration of legislation by this Chamber that. in fact. moves us to the past. It restricts the resources that are available. It reduces the accountability in the system. It fails to support teachers and principalsthose people who almost every speaker today has said are the most important people in our education system. While it provides for teacher evaluation. which I support. it really only provides it for the purposes of hiring and firing a teacher. not to provide the kind of support and not to provide the kind of collaboration that teachersyoung teachers and new teachers to the systembring with them in wanting to have that experience so they can improve their profession. the kinds of opportunities that teachers want. and the reason teachers are organizing independently among themselves. both on the Internet and in localities. so that they can share their skills and their talents to improve their abilities to deliver the education. That support is not here. You can say. Well. its blockgranted. and they can do it if they want. Not under sequestration. Theyll be lucky if they can provide survival for the students whom this legislation is directed at. which are the poorest children in this countryminority children. English learners. children on Indian reservations. children who need special attention to succeed. If they get it. they can succeed. but this legislation doesnt do that. This legislation doesnt address the priority that. again. every Member in this body has spoken about. As for the priority that needs to be put on STEM. you can do it if you want to do it. Ive listened for so many yearspeople say. within the Federal Government. its only 5 percent of the money or its only 6 percent of the moneyand its always so burdensome. Well then. dont take it. I know the managers amendment says that. but thats the law today. You sign up for this. And if everything else is going so well. how does this 5 percent of the money have such bad results in the districts? Because the fact of the matter is. we know. for whatever reason. many. many school districts and many schools are failing the students that theyre supposed to be teaching. This is an effort to try to assist them. This is an effort to try to give them the flexibility so that they can make these decisions. but if you send it in the form of H.R. 5. theyre not going to have the support to do it. theyre not going to have the resources to do it. theyre not going to have the trained teachers to do it. theyre not going to have the trained principals to do itand thats what we should not be doing. We should. in fact. be emboldening our schools with those resources. with those talents and with those skills. We should make sure that every teacher has the capability. has the subject matter competency. In a poor school today. youre learning arithmetic in the fourth grade. youre learning mathematics in the eighth grade. youre learning algebrayour chances of having a teacher who understands those subjects and who has taken courses in those subjects is one in seven. Shouldnt it be. for those children. one in one? Shouldnt it be that every classroom has a teacher who has subject matter competency? But we all know in our districts that thats not what happens in many of these schools. We know that. in fact. an art teacher is asked to go into a mathematics class. We know that a parttime history teacher is asked. Can you help us out in the science class? Thats not how you maintain this countrys being number one in the Nation. Thats not the education system that will do it. We can poke along. and we can lament. and we can worry about China and India and about countries that are making a commitment to their education systems and to their research facilities. but unless we make that commitment. we wont be running that race in the next generation. We will have settled in to some other place than number one. and I dont think thats acceptable to the people of this country. We have been told by all business leaders who come herewhether they come from Silicon Valley or they come from the manufacturing areas of the country in the Midwestthat they want a stronger K through 12 system. Thats why the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable have serious problems and are in opposition to H.R. 5. because it doesnt meet their needs that they say that they need in terms of a future educated population in order to get those skilled workers. to get that talent base. to get that future innovation. Thats their decision. not my decision. Thats also the decision of the civil rights groups. Thats also the decision of the parents with children with disabilities and of the disabilities community. Thats also the decision of the educators in these systems. This legislation is not up to the standards of America. It doesnt meet Americas future needs. It doesnt meet the standards of excellence. and it doesnt meet the commitment of resources that this Nation should be making on behalf of the schoolchildren in this Nation and of future generations. I yield back the balance of my time.