On the recordJuly 14, 2015
as we continue to debate this bipartisan bill to fix the badly broken No Child Left Behind law, I want to take a step back to lay out why this is so important. First of all, the idea of a strong public education for all children is part of who we are as a nation. It is sewn into the fabric of America. Providing quality education is also an economic imperative. When all of our students have the chance to learn, we strengthen our future workforce, and that helps our country grow stronger. And we empower the next generation of Americans to lead the world. Education is like insurance for our Nation's future economic competitiveness in the years to come. It opens more opportunities for more students, and it helps our economy grow from the middle out, not the top down. One of the best ways I believe we can strengthen our education system is by making sure more students start kindergarten ready to learn. As we work to fix No Child Left Behind, we also have the opportunity to expand access to high-quality early childhood education and set students on a path toward success. I am very proud of the bipartisan early learning grants we secured in the base of this bill. I think we should continue to build on that bipartisan progress to make sure more students have access to high- quality early learning programs. That is exactly what Senator Casey's amendment would do. I urge my colleagues to support it.…
