Mike Quigley: “Like many of you, as a kid, I learned about Robin Hood. You know the story: he stole from the rich and gave to the poor.…”

“Like many of you, as a kid, I learned about Robin Hood. You know the story: he stole from the rich and gave to the poor. But today, I come to talk to you about something a little less storybook. In this case, my friends on the other side of the aisle are supporting a bill that robs from poor schools and gives to rich schools. The so-called Student Success Act that we are debating today takes money from schools with the greatest need and redistributes it to less needy schools in more affluent communities, hurting students and teachers in its wake. That is hardly the definition of success the bill claims to make. The Student Success Act would reauthorize education funds first signed into law in 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson, who said that ``full educational opportunity should be our first national goal.'' But the Student Success Act completely misses the mark of what LBJ was trying to accomplish. A former teacher, LBJ believed that equal access to education was the key to success, and that the vital education funding that the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provided would help millions of ``children with poor families overcome the greatest barrier to progress: poverty.'' For 50 years, the ESEA has provided essential funding for school districts that serve low-income students as well as aid to State education agencies to help them improve the quality of elementary and secondary education around the country.…”