Rick Allen: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, the debate before this floor today is who knows best how to educate our…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, the debate before this floor today is who knows best how to educate our children. I rise today to speak about H.R. 5, the Student Success Act. This is legislation that I believe goes a long way in getting the Federal Government out of the way of our schools and teachers and putting education back in the right hands by restoring local control. As a member of the Education and the Workforce Committee, I have spent several hours debating and marking up this legislation. I have also visited several schools in my district and have spoken with parents, teachers, and administrators about the challenges they are facing. What I heard across the board was that top-down regulations from Washington are burdening our teachers with seemingly endless compliance requirements. Our educators should have the ability to focus on the individual needs of their students and their classes. Instead, our current system is forcing them to spend time filling out paperwork and meeting this one-size-fits-all requirement. That is exactly why H.R. 5 is important legislation that I urge my colleagues to support today. This bill replaces the current accountability system that says Washington knows what is best for our students, and it replaces it with a system that gives States and school districts the responsibility for measuring the success of their schools.…”