Children need longer days, longer weeks, longer years, not less time.

At a time when Congress is disinvesting from children I want to thank you, Mr. Secretary, and thank the President for putting forward a budget proposal that upholds our sacred obligation to educate our young people.

I applaud your focus on funding early education at a time when sequester cuts are decimating programs like Head Start and research in STEM education.

According to the Committee for Education Funding, the Republican budget--the Ryan budget--would cut Head Start by an additional $900 million on top of the $401 million in cuts from the sequester.

Biometric technologies can offer a number of benefits. They can increase security here at home by identifying terrorists...

As a former teacher, school principal, and school board member, I can personally attest to the importance of a strong federal role in education.

I hope we can categorically reject vouchers as a way forward. Vouchers, simply put, they gut our public education system.

There is nothing that we should call an achievement gap. It is call--it should be called an opportunity gap because that is where the gap is.

Big data can not only lead to amazing scientific discoveries; it can also save lives.

I hope our witnesses will offer recommendations on how the Federal Government can help create the new tools, software and workforce needed to realize the full potential of big data.

First of all, I would like to thank both Chairman Bucshon and Chairman Massie for holding this joint hearing.