Student Success Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. KILDEE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the ranking member for his leadership on this issue.

Mr. Chair, this legislation is an attack on teachers and takes away the tools they need to succeed in the classroom. I am exhausted by the continual scapegoating of America's schoolteachers.

Teachers, like my three sisters, spend countless hours both in and out of the classroom, preparing curricula, and mentoring our youth in afterschool programs. We should help every educator grow and develop professionally and not standardize and reduce their performance to a one-size-fits-all approach.

I am weary of elected officials who give lip service to the importance of good teachers. Mr. Chairman, actions speak louder than words.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this bill. The House majority continues to attack teachers' rights to bargain with their local community on conditions that are best for their local community, and I stand in strong opposition to this bad bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. KILDEE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I am speaking on the previous amendment, the Young amendment. I ran out of time earlier.

As currently written, this bill does not provide a clear funding source for Indian education programs, which violates an important trust responsibility between the Federal Government and our sovereign Indian nations. We have a moral obligation as a society to provide quality education for all children, including Native American youth.

I believe it is a huge mistake to eliminate title VII, and if this amendment, the previous amendment, is not adopted in rollcall, I believe it will have a negative impact on Native American communities.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source