Katie Porter: “We cannot know whether educational programs, including IDEA, work unless somebody evaluates how they work. The Federal…”

“We cannot know whether educational programs, including IDEA, work unless somebody evaluates how they work. The Federal Government is the primary source of funds for long-term investment in national education research and development. Much of what we know about how to improve schools, much of what we know about how kids learn has come from investments made over the past 30 years. The education industry is a $584 billion industry. It absorbs 7.2 percent of our gross domestic product. But we spend only three-hundredths of 1 percent of that money on R&D, education research and development, learning what works and what does not work and how to improve the learning of our children. Most of that spending is cut by this amendment. Cutting education statistics will eliminate the retesting of students who took the TIMS exam, which found our students lacking in math and science knowledge. This will prevent our Nation from knowing whether our students are getting better or worse in those very, very important areas.”