Lynn C. Woolsey: “I rise in support of H.R. 6, Improving America's Schools Act. I first want to thank the chairman of the subcommittee…”

“I rise in support of H.R. 6, Improving America's Schools Act. I first want to thank the chairman of the subcommittee, the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Kildee], for his unflagging efforts to reach consensus and report out a bill we can all support. I also want to express my admiration for the chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Ford], who presided over one of the longest uninterrupted mark-ups in history. Every member of the Committee on Education and Labor was given the opportunity to help craft the bill before you today. H.R. 6 will help schools, students, parents and educators in every district in America. I want to tell my colleagues just a few of the many reasons why local schools and communities want them to vote for H.R. 6: First, I am particularly proud of coordinated services, title X, in this bill. Recently, both George Will and David Broder, two newspaper writers who rarely agree, had separate columns in the Washington Post on how factors outside the classroom impact on students' ability to learn inside the classroom. Coordinated services, as authorized in this bill allows local public schools to use some of their Federal Education funds to join with other community partners to identify and make available health and social services that students need so that they can enter a classroom ready to learn.”