Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020
Floor Speech
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Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, at the end of fiscal year 2021, the 5-year authorization for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, our Nation's foundational prekindergarten through 12th grade law, is due to expire.
While I understand that previous reauthorizations took 13 years and allowed an entire generation of students to matriculate through school systems around our Nation, I am here today to stress that our kids can't wait for the needed transformational changes to our Nation's Federal, State, and local education policies and additional funding investments.
To provide a stronger Federal partnership to States and local communities that have worked together to support transformational change that will ensure educational equity and quality for all public school students, I introduced the TRUE EQUITY Act. It stands for the Transformational Reforms and Updates to Ensure Educational Quality and Urgent Investments in Today's Youth Act.
My home State of Maryland has been long recognized as having one of the best public school systems in the country, according to the independent newspaper Education Week. This ranges from having entire county-based local school systems ranked as near the top in the Nation to individual schools producing national leaders in academic achievement. In addition, Maryland was one of the first States to offer half-day preschool for 4-year-olds, has broad access to Advanced Placement courses for high schoolers, and pays for dual-enrollment courses for high school students at our local community colleges.
I am proud of these accomplishments. However, not all of our students have found success.
In 2016, the Maryland General Assembly and the Governor of Maryland established the Maryland Commission on Innovation and Excellence in Education, chaired by the former chancellor of the University System of Maryland, William ``Brit'' Kirwan, to identify the policies and practices so that Maryland's schools perform at the level of the world's highest performing school system. The commission was charged with a number of tasks, including a review of the current funding formulas and accountability measures utilized to ensure educational equity and equality, how Maryland schools prepare students for postsecondary education in the workforce, and to make recommendations for the State on needed funding improvements across the State and local school districts.
These reviews are necessary to support growing populations of children with disabilities, how to improve and expand programs supporting postsecondary credential attainment, and other policy changes to address the academic achievement gap that has persisted along racial, ethnic, and income levels of students of color and low-income students compared to their higher income and White peers.
To meet this expansive charge, the commission included stakeholders from across our State, including representatives of the Maryland General Assembly, including our now speaker of the Maryland House Delegates and our now State Senate president, the Governor's office, county elected leaders, education leaders, including State and local school board representatives, our State and local superintendents, leader of our State's public university system, teachers, business leaders, and leading education advocacy organizations, such as the Maryland State Education Association, Maryland Parent Teacher Association, and Maryland Family Network.
In addition to the members of the commission, the commission actively sought input from the public with numerous meetings soliciting public comment held across our State. In January 2019, the commission unanimously released their interim report that found Maryland students scored in the middle of the pack on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the ``Nation's report card,'' which is given to representative samples of 4th, 8th, and 12th graders in every State.
The gaps in achievement between socioeconomic, racial, and children with disabilities were far too large in a State like Maryland that has committed resources and established policies that are meant to provide a world-class public education system.
The commission also reported that less than half of kindergartners entering our school system were ready to learn, and fewer than 40 percent of students who are graduating from high school truly are ``college or career ready.'' This is in spite of the estimates that by 2022 nearly two-thirds of the jobs in Maryland will require at least postsecondary credentials, whether they be nationally recognized industry certificates or 2-year or 4-year college degrees.
For instance, in 2017, just under half of all students across Maryland high schools received a proficient score on their English 10 exam. That exam helps evaluate the students' readiness for college or career. Disaggregated data shows the continued struggle to close academic achievement gaps among racial and socioeconomic groups. Along racial lines, 77 percent of Asian students and 67 percent of White students were proficient. However, only 34 percent of Hispanic students and 29 percent of African-American students earned proficiency scores.
The commission's interim report highlighted that despite Maryland being ranked as one of the top five States with the highest household median income, a large number of Maryland students are living in poverty. Forty-three percent of Maryland students are low income and eligible for free or reduced-price school meals, meaning that they come from families at or below 185 percent of the Federal poverty line. For every 10 public schools across our State, there is a concentration of poverty where enrollment consists of at least 55 percent of students living in poverty. These schools are in all of our subdivisions except one.
In 15 percent of Maryland schools, at least 80 percent of children are low income. Students attending schools with a concentration of poverty receive less funding per pupil than other school districts. For example, 53 percent of African-American students attend schools with concentrations of poverty, while only 8 percent of White students attend these schools.
The academic achievement gap between Maryland students with means and our low-income students is stark. On the English 10 exam, 62 percent of economically advantaged students earned a passing score, while 28 percent of those students who are on free and reduced-price meals were deemed proficient. These statistics are stark. We know we have a problem. We have to deal with it.
The commission reported that these academic achievement disparities continued into college enrollment, with fewer students of color and low-income students enrolling in college than their higher income and White peers.
We will find similar numbers throughout our Nation. We need to do something about this. Concerns about the state of education in Maryland was not limited to student performance. The commission's interim report also found that students face a rotating carousel of teachers throughout their time in schools. With the average salary for teachers in Maryland approximately 25 percent less than professionals with comparable levels of education, it is difficult to attract to the profession. Sixty percent of our new teachers are recruited from outside our State each year. This is a common problem we have throughout the country.
Once those individuals arrive in the classroom, 47 percent will leave by the start of their third year. The turnover is tremendous. It is salary issues. It is working conditions. It makes it difficult to get the true professionalism and commitments that we need in education. This difficulty in recruiting individuals and the constant churn leaves Maryland students and local education systems facing shortages in critical need areas, such as special education, language, and the STEM fields.
In order to address these inequities in education, the commission unanimously agreed on a proposal with five transformative policy recommendations in their interim report that would provide significant, additional investments in Federal, State, and local funding and modify policies for Maryland's prekindergarten through 12th grade education system.
The five main policy recommendations would first invest in high- quality early childhood education and care through a significant expansion of full-day preschool, to be free for all low-income, 3- and 4-year-olds, so that children have the opportunity to begin kindergarten ready to learn.
Second is to invest in teachers and school leaders by elevating the standard and status of the teaching profession, including a performance-based career ladder and salaries comparable to other fields with similar educational requirements.
Third, it creates a world-class instructional system with an international benchmark curriculum that enables most students to achieve ``college or career ready'' status by the 10th grade and then pursue pathways to include early college, Advanced Placement courses, or a rigorous technical education leading to industry-recognized credentials and higher paid jobs.
Fourth, it provides support to students who need it the most, with broad and sustained support for schools serving high concentrations of poverty, with after-school and summer academic programs and student access to needed health and social services.
Finally, it ensures excellence for all through an accountability oversight board that has the authority to ensure that transformative education system recommendations are successfully implemented and produce the desired improvements in student achievement.
These reforms would be implemented over a 10-year period, creating a sustained and coordinated effort to transform Maryland's public education system into a world-class system, elevating the teaching profession, and eliminating educational inequities. An independent analysis conducted in November 2019 confirms that the cost to implement the commission's recommendations will pay for themselves shortly after the 10-year implementation period.
Last year, the Maryland General Assembly recognized that our children could not wait to implement the commission's recommendations and established the Blueprint for Maryland's Future to lay the groundwork for the implementation of the commission's recommendations.
Starting this year, the Blueprint for Maryland's Future is assisting low-income families' access to expanded services and early childhood education, including free prekindergarten for 3- and 4-year-olds from low-income families.
The Blueprint for Maryland's Future is assisting in the recruitment of new teachers to the profession through increased teacher pay and career ladders for exiting teachers to help train the next generation. A newly established career readiness standard will allow Maryland high school students to succeed in dual-enrollment courses offered by local community colleges.
The ``Blueprint'' addresses Maryland's education formulas to better target resources to students who need additional assistance, including children with disabilities, English learners, and students in schools with high concentration of poverty. This is all done while increasing accountability to ensure that the additional investments are properly implemented and help our students succeed.
That is the path that we are on. I agree with advocates and elected leaders who understand our kids cannot wait for adoption of these recommendations at some point in the future. We need to act now. We need to implement these recommendations now and view them as a national model for other States to aspire to. Without transformative change, we will continue to hope for significantly different results with only incremental changes, or we can be bold and change the future of our children and our country and every child with the high-quality education skills training that they need to be successful and climb out of poverty.
I reject the arguments from those who would claim that the recommendations are too costly to implement. Without the full implementation of the commission's recommendations, we are failing in our primary goal in government of providing a better future for our children, allowing them to slip behind their national and international peers.
These arguments also fail to see that the investments in our children can lead to a lifetime of reduced costs in public safety and healthcare costs, as children can grow and support themselves and their future families through the education they receive in public schools. These investments will pay back dividends in a stronger economy that will benefit all of us.
I believe we should not allow States and local communities to make these transformative changes on their own. The Federal Government should be a strong Federal partner in ensuring accountability and in addressing educational inequities for our children.
That is why I introduced the TRUE EQUITY Act. This legislation, which is purposely modeled after the commission's recommendation, establishes four new, supplemental Federal grant opportunities for State and local school districts that are committed to addressing educational inequities while holding States and local school districts accountable for failing to properly support their students.
In strengthening the Federal Government's commitment as a partner in education, the four new TRUE EQUITY grants would provide an additional $1 of Federal funds for every $2 of State and local funds that are committed to education beyond their fiscal year 2019 spending levels.
State and local school districts that receive grants would be required to meet a maintenance of effort to ensure that the State and local educational spending is maintained and would not allow the Federal Government's funding to backfill reductions in State and local commitments to educational funding.
As a requirement to receiving one of the four new TRUE EQUITY grants, a State would be required to have an independent oversight board to ensure that the State and local districts would be meeting their State- designated educational equity goals, and the oversight board would have the ability to hold the State and local school districts accountable for not meeting their targeted goals.
These grants are flexible to allow local communities to meet their needs over a several-year period, whether it be through the establishment of a college and career readiness pathway to support a high school student's dual enrollment at a local community college and provide a jump-start on college; additional funding to expand the number of early learning hubs in the State--in Maryland, these are known as Judy Centers--or training for teachers on how to address the needs of our children with disabilities.
As Congress begins to look at the next reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, I urge my colleagues to listen to the voices of the Marylanders across our State who know that our kids can't wait for the implementation of these recommendations and support the TRUE EQUITY Act.
I congratulate the members of the commission who thoughtfully researched and crafted this national model for States to be able to see transformative change and raise their educational systems to that of a world-class school system. We owe our children nothing less than to provide them with the best possible outcome in our Nation's public schools.
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