Student Success Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Chair, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 5, the Letting Students Down Act. This legislation fails our students, teachers, and families. It is a step back for our country's education system at a time when we should be running forward.

I have many concerns with H.R. 5.

The bill turns Title 1 funding into a block grant program. This change will disproportionally harm many disadvantaged low-income students. Schools across the country, including some in my Congressional district, rely on these funds to help ensure that all children meet state academic standards.

In addition to block granting Title 1 funds, H.R. 5 weakens current accountability measures for students, teachers, and schools.

The Republican bill does not require states to set high standards to graduate students college and career-ready. It also does not require low-performing schools to work towards improvement; instead, it eliminates all current school improvement requirements.

Every student in America has a constitutional right to a high quality education. It is the job of this Congress to secure that right without delay.

The bill before us falls short in providing the quality education that our students deserve, and I refuse to take part in supporting legislation that fails our students and their families. I oppose H.R. 5 and encourage my colleagues to do the same.

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Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Speaker, at a time when one-third of our nation's children are overweight or obese, educating them in physical competence, health-related fitness and healthy behaviors is critical to their development and long-term success as productive citizens.

Unfortunately, my Republican Colleagues fail to address this need in H.R.

Quality physical education and health education programs are essential components of a comprehensive K-12 curriculum. Recent studies, such as the Health in Mind report released by the Healthy Schools Campaign, show that health and fitness are linked to improved academic performance, cognitive ability, and behavior, as well as, reduced truancy.

Physical education increases physical competence, health-related fitness, social responsibility and enjoyment of physical activity. Quality health education is also essential to supporting the formation of health-literate and health-conscious adults, and the development of life-long healthy habits that can help reduce the enormous burden of health care costs to this nation.

The lack of physically fit and health-literate graduates has become a national security issue--being overweight or obese has become the leading medical reason why applicants fail to qualify for military service. The Institute of Medicine recognizes the important role physical education plays in combating childhood obesity, and that is why it recently recommended that physical education be included as a core subject in schools.

Unfortunately, many schools today do not provide adequate physical education or health education as recommended by health-related national organizations and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Subjects that are not considered ``core'' under the current education law are frequently marginalized and too often eliminated due to a lack of funding or administrative priority.

Given the obesity epidemic in our country, it is unfortunate that my Republican colleagues did not include health education and physical education as core subjects in their bill. It is my sincere hope that as the bill moves forward in the Senate these subjects will be included and this issue will be rectified.

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