Conference Report on S. 1177, Student Success Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Speaker, I recognize Chairman Kline especially for the work he has done over a long period of time, 7 years or so, bringing this House, this Congress, to where we are today. It truly is leadership at its best.

Mr. Speaker, let's face it. No Child Left Behind's high-stakes testing, which requires every child to be caught up to grade level within 1 year, is simply unworkable, as well-intentioned as it may have been.

Currently, the Secretary of Education, through waivers, can run schools by executive fiat, imposing requirements on State testing standards and conditioning receipt of Federal funds on adopting Common Core standards.

It's time for a positive change, and that change is the Every Student Succeeds Act. This bill, as pointed out here, as The Wall Street Journal puts it, is the largest transfer of Federal control, Mr. Speaker, to the States in 25 years, where this authority and opportunity frankly belongs.

This bill empowers States, and it ends the federally mandated high-stakes testing, which is the core, which is the heart of No Child Left Behind, which is causing all the stress that we see from our teachers, our school administrators, our parents, and especially our students. If it produced the results that we intended, maybe that is one thing. But all it is producing is stress and an unworkable situation.

The people who best know how to test, how long to test, what to test, et cetera, et cetera, are our parents, our teachers, our voters, our taxpayers, our local school administrators. Let them have this responsibility back.

It provides flexibility so voters and taxpayers, through their locally elected officials, can decide for themselves what success looks like. It recognizes that, when it comes to determining academic standards, States, school administrators, and parents know what is best.

It is time we put our children first so we can compete in a global, 21st-century world and win again. It is time we trust parents, teachers, and local education leaders more than we trust Federal bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. This bill is a huge step in that direction.

I urge all of my colleagues, Republican and Democrat, to support it.

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Mr. ROKITA. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to offer the following Joint Statement of Legislative Intent on the Conference Report to accompany S. 1177, the Every Student Succeeds Act, on behalf of myself and Mr. JOHN KLINE, Chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee.

JOINT STATEMENT OF LEGISLATIVE INTENT ON CONFERENCE REPORT TO ACCOMPANY S. 1177, THE EVERY STUDENT SUCCEEDS ACT

Like our colleagues, we support this conference report because we believe states and school districts should be left to set their own education priorities. The House-passed bill included strong prohibitions that clearly did just that. The conference report maintains strong, unprecedented prohibitions on the Secretary of Education. For example,

Section 1111(e) clearly states the Secretary may not add any requirements or criteria outside the scope of this act, and further says the Secretary may not ``be in excess of statutory authority given to the Secretary.'' This section goes on to lay out specific terms the Secretary cannot prescribe, sets clear limits on the guidance the Secretary may offer, and also clearly states that the Secretary is prohibited from defining terms that are inconsistent with or outside the scope of this Act.

Then there are provisions in Titles I and VIII that ensure standards and curriculum are left to the discretion of states without federal control or mandates, and the same is true for assessments.

Finally, the conference report also includes a Sense of Congress that states and local educational agencies retain the right and responsibility of determining educational curriculum, programs of instruction, and assessments.

The conference report makes it clear the Secretary is not to put any undue limits on the ability of states to determine their accountability systems, their standards, or what tests they give their students. The clear intent and legislative language of this report devolves authority over education decisions back to the states and severely limits the Secretary's ability to interfere in any way.

Ensuring a limited role for the U.S. Secretary of Education was a critically important priority throughout the reauthorization process and this agreement meets that priority.

For example, the Secretary may not limit the ability of states to determine how the measures of student performance are weighted within state accountability systems. The Secretary also cannot prescribe school support and improvement strategies, or any aspect of a state's teacher evaluation system, or the methodology used to differentiate schools in a state.

Also, the Secretary may not create new policy by creatively defining terms in the law. Let us say definitively, as the Chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee and Subcommittee Chairman of the subcommittee of jurisdiction, this new law reins in the Secretary and ensures state and local education officials make the decisions about their schools under this new law.

Over the past few years, the Secretary has exceeded his authority by placing conditions on waivers to states and local educational agencies. The conference report prevents the Secretary from applying any new conditions on waivers or the state plans required in the law by including language that clearly states the Secretary may not add any new conditions for the approval of waivers or state plans that are outside the scope of the law. In plain English, this means if the law does not give the Secretary the authority to require something, then he may not unilaterally create an ability to do that.

We are glad to be able to support a bill that will return control to states, where it should always be, and appreciate the strong support of colleagues as well.

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