Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to come before you to talk about and support H.R. 5, the Student Success Act. Mr. Speaker, this is legislation to replace No Child Left Behind, to restore local control over education, and to empower parents and local education leaders to hold schools accountable for effectively teaching students. I spent last week in my district, and I visited elementary and high schools, specifically schools that would be affected by the Student Success Act. These schools were located in some of the most impoverished areas of my district. I listened in classrooms, held forums to hear from parents and local education leaders, and spoke to teachers and administrators about the challenges they are facing. What I heard across the board was that the Federal Government and their compliance issues in the classroom are holding back our educators from effectively teaching our students. Top-down education mandates have failed to help students and have forced educators to waste valuable time and resources filling out paperwork and worrying about compliance with Federal requirements. Instead of this one-size-fits-all approach, we need policies that enhance teachers' abilities to focus on the individual needs of the students. We need bottom-up reforms that give authority to the parents, teachers, and local education leaders, who work with their children and students every day and who know them best. H.R.…”