Clearly, one of the most important issues in America today is the education of our children. A good education gives a child a solid base in life from which to build future successes. In Utah, we are lucky to have some of the best students, parents, teachers and administrators in the country. While we may have the lowest per pupil expenditure, we have among the highest test scores. I am proud that all eight of my children attended or still attend Utah public schools.
EDUCATION BY TEACHERS, NOT BUREAUCRATS
I have always believed that decisions about educating our children should be made by parents, local school boards and educators -- not bureaucrats in Washington, DC. As I said when I first ran for Congress in 1996: the federal government does not belong in public education. Layers of bureaucracy and piles of paperwork do not improve our children’s education. I believe that the Department of Education simply does not fulfill its intended mission of providing educational excellence for all Americans. By reducing and ultimately eliminating the federal education bureaucracy, we could better allocate federal resources for local schools to use to best fit the needs of our kids. I will continue to work toward getting the federal government out of our education system and off the backs of our teachers.
NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND
The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law was one of President Bush first major initiatives. Contrary to popular belief, NCLB was in fact a necessary reauthorization of federal education programs dating back to the 1960s. However, the President and many Republicans viewed this reauthorization as an opportunity to inject some long-held Republican principles into those programs. Against the backdrop of decades of increasing federal involvement and funding in our local schools, with little apparent benefit, I voted for the NCLB as a catalyst for needed change. Accountability, targeting resources toward real needs and closing the achievement gap between disadvantaged students and their peers were the stated goals of the NCLB, and after throwing billions of tax dollars at education without such accountability, it made sense to try to enact some common sense reforms into the manner in which federal assistance is used in our schools. As we have in seen in Utah, though, implementation of the NCLB law has produced confusion, controversy and complication – and it certainly has not achieved the goal of greater local control. With reauthorization of NCLB approaching, I turned to a distinguished and diverse group of Utah education experts to provide advice as to ways the law can be improved and hopefully made more workable for Utah students, families and schools. Without dramatic improvement, however, I will be very hesitant to support reauthorization of NCLB.
To see a copy of the Education Advisory Committee's recommendations click here
I am currently Co-Sponsoring two bills related to NCLB:
APLUS Act (HR 1539):
Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success Act or the A PLUS Act – This act essentially block grants federal funds to the individual states. It allows each state to submit to the Secretary of Education a declaration of intent, applicable for up to five years, permitting it to receive federal funds on a consolidated basis that would otherwise be directed toward specific programs furthering the stated purpose of title I (Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
LEARN Act (HR 3177):
Local Education Authority Returns Now Act – In short, this Act stops your (education) tax dollars from ever making it to Washington DC. It allows states to opt-out of K-12 education grant programs, and further amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow individual taxpayers in states that choose to opt-out, a refundable tax credit for a share of the opt-out amount creditable to such states.
