Student Success Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCain. Mr. President, today I come to the floor to express my strong support for the Every Student Succeeds Act. This legislation is a major step forward in taking the responsibility of educating our children back from Washington and giving it to the States. Senator Alexander and the Republican majorities in Congress have been successful working in with parents, teachers, and school districts in putting together a bipartisan elementary education reform bill that would restore the role of States in creating accountability standards, testing requirements, and other education policies that best fit the needs of students in local public and charter schools.

One of the most important pieces of this bill is that it would effectively end Common Core once and for all by allowing States to develop their own education standards. For far too long, Federal bureaucrats in Washington have tied the hands of States and parents by mandating one-size-fits-all education policies such as Common Core that have failed America's students. Let me be clear: I strongly support education standards that make Arizona students prepared to compete in this global economy. But these standards should be developed by Arizona's State and local education officials in consultation with parents of Arizona schoolchildren. This bill would do just that.

The Every Student Succeeds Act would also end the Federal test-based accountability system that was established by the No Child Left Behind Act. No longer would these required Federal tests be the sole measure of educational success. States will now be allowed to use testing along with other measures of accountability such as attendance, teacher performance, and other student achievement and school performance metrics when developing accountability systems.

In addition to helping take control of elementary education back from Washington, this bill includes provisions that would strengthen charter schools. I am proud of the fact that Arizona is home to some of the best charter schools in the Nation. According to the Arizona Charter School Association, over 190,000 Arizona students have access to more than 600 charter schools, giving Arizona parents more educational choices for their children. I am also proud of the fact that BASIS Charter Schools in Scottsdale and Tucson are the first and third-ranked charter schools in America, according to U.S. News & World Report.

I am also pleased that the Every Student Succeeds Act includes language I offered on the Senate floor in July that would enhance educational choice and expand access to high-performing schools for student in Arizona and across the nation.

Specifically, this provision would let Arizona and other States propose how they could use limited Federal education funds to replicate and expand access to high-performing charter, magnet, and traditional public schools for low-income students--in other words, education options that are proven to provide the best-quality learning environments for Arizona children.

Right now, public funds meant to help low-income students are largely reserved for poor-performing schools, failing the children who are most in need. We must give Arizona and other States the ability to direct these funds to develop high-performing charter, magnet and traditional public schools which have been proven to be successful.

The provisions I offered give Arizona the ability to show how they can do just that, while paving the way to give parents the freedom to choose which schools are best for their kids.

The Every Student Succeeds Act also includes measures that would offer additional support for rural schools in Arizona by providing more flexible use of Federal funding and maintaining the authorization of the Small, Rural School Achievement Program, SRSA, and the Rural and Low Income School, RLIS, program. The bill also helps States support English learners by providing resources to establish strong English proficiency programs to enable these students to meet high education standards.

I am proud of the strong progress that Arizona students are making in the classroom. According to the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress, NAEP, Arizona students are making significant progress compared to students in other States. In a recent op-ed in the Arizona Republic, former Arizona Superintendent Lisa Graham Keegan and the Foundation for Excellence in Education's Matthew Lander wrote, ``[w]hile the national NAEP news this week was grim, with flat scores in fourth grade reading and declining scores in all three subjects, Arizona students bucked that trend by notching gains in three of the four tests.'' They went on to highlight Arizona's success, stating ``Arizona's charter-school students ..... matched the scores for the highest-scoring states on the 2015 NAEP. On eighth grade mathematics, for instance, Arizona charter students scored in a statistical dead heat with Massachusetts, the highest scoring of the 50 states.''

I am extremely proud of the success we are seeing in Arizona elementary education, but more needs to be done to ensure our students have the best opportunities by increasing educational choice and enabling States and school districts to expand and replicate high-performing schools. Every American has an obligation to help prepare the next generation for the future, and this bill is a step in the right direction. I encourage all of my colleagues to support this bill.

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