Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 125 provides for a structured rule providing for the consideration of a number of amendments to H.R. 5, the Student Success Act. My colleagues on the House Education and the Workforce Committee and I have been working to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Our efforts in reauthorization have centered on four principles: reducing the Federal footprint in education, empowering parents, supporting effective teachers, and restoring local control. H.R. 5, the Student Success Act, ensures that local communities have the flexibility needed to meet the needs of their students. This legislation reauthorizes the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known as ESEA, for 5 years while making commonsense changes to update the law and address some of the concerns raised following the last reauthorization. Despite good intentions, there is widespread agreement that the current law is no longer effectively serving students. Instead of working with Congress to reauthorize ESEA, the Obama administration began offering States temporary waivers in 2011 to exempt them from onerous requirements in exchange for new Federal mandates from the Department of Education. These waivers are a short-term fix to a long- term problem and leave States and districts with uncertainty about whether they will again be subject to the failing law and if the administration will change the requirements necessary to receive a waiver.…”