Providing for Congressional Disapproval Under Chapter 8 of Title United States Code, of the Rule Submitted By the Department of
Floor Speech
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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I do know that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle support high-quality charter schools because they are an important part of many States' public school system, which is why I come to the floor today to urge my colleagues to vote against the resolution.
I want to be clear: This resolution will cause unnecessary chaos, undermine simple accountability measures to ensure that our Federal funds are well spent and delay funding from supporting new, high- quality charter schools and the students that they would serve.
Earlier this year, after responding to over 25,000 comments from charter schools, parent organizations, and others, the Biden administration issued their final rule laying out various criteria for Federal charter school grants. This is a common step in administrating the charter school program--one the previous administration took as well. And the latest rule included some commonsense ideas to increase community and parent involvement, to strengthen the fiscal transparency to make sure that taxpayer dollars are being used properly.
The goal of the rule is simple: to help make sure our Federal dollars support high quality charter schools. Passing this resolution now would upend a balanced rule that is a result of months of careful work from the Department of Education.
The Biden administration has already used this rule to issue 12 awards now, totaling $65 million across 11 States, and it is currently now in the middle of a grant competition, which charter school management organizations are now applying for.
So let's not disrupt the plans of Mississippi and Tennessee and Georgia and the other States that have already received awards under the new rule and that were counting on that funding. That is not fair. It is not good for schools, teachers, parents, or students.
So I hope no one here wants to see our schools disrupted, accountability weakened, or learning undermined, which is why I am here today to urge everyone to join me in voting against this resolution and to work with me and the Department of Education to continue to support high-quality charter schools, while improving oversight and transparency of our Federal funds.
Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina.
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