Mark Takano: “I thank the gentleman from Virginia for yielding time. Mr. Speaker, as a former public schoolteacher for 24 years, I am…”

“I thank the gentleman from Virginia for yielding time. Mr. Speaker, as a former public schoolteacher for 24 years, I am proud to rise in support of this bill, which will improve our schools, offer more support to teachers, and, most importantly, provide more students the education they deserve. Having served in the classroom during the implementation of No Child Left Behind, I can say without hesitation that our current education system needs a reset. While well-intentioned, No Child Left Behind created a punitive approach to education policy that punishes underperforming schools instead of helping them to improve. That rigid, test-driven approach to accountability, combined with heavyhanded intervention from the Federal Government, has failed to close the achievement gaps in our country. This reauthorization replaces our test-and-punish system with a more flexible test-and-reveal approach that returns decisionmaking to States and school districts. It will empower educators who best understand their students' needs to develop new ways to meet local challenges. I am also pleased this bill increases overall education funding and ensures States are maintaining their investments in schools. As a teacher, I might not give this bill an A-plus, but it is a solid bipartisan compromise, and it is an overdue replacement for a status quo that we all know is unacceptable. For that reason, I give this bill a passing grade.”