Student Success Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHOCK. I thank the chairman.

Mr. Chair, the 10th Amendment of the Constitution vests the responsibility of free public education with the States; but recently, the administration and the Federal Government have been running headlong into establishing Federal standards through a common core set of principles at State levels.

H.R. 5 is an important step in reaffirming the fact that it is the States' rights and States' responsibility to determine what those students should learn within their States and, more importantly, reasserts the fact that locally elected school boards should be the sole determinants of what students should be taught and learn at local school districts.

As a former school board member myself, I know the importance of local control. H.R. 5 reestablishes that and makes certain that the Secretary of Education does not have the power to force in a dictatorial way local States to adopt common core principles.

For so many reasons, this bill should be passed, and I urge a ``yes'' vote.

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Mr. SCHOCK. Mr. Chair, I thank my good friend and cosponsor of this amendment, Mr. Meehan.

I rise today in support of my amendment to strengthen the process by which local school districts can provide meaningful firsthand input in the development of rules and regulations issued by the Department of Education.

As a former school board member, I can tell you nothing is more frustrating to school board members, 96 percent of whom are directly elected by the voters in their community, than having to redirect limited resources that they have to unfunded mandates contained in rules and regulations issued by the Department of Education.

My amendment here today ensures that rules and regulations are educationally and operationally viable at the local level by ensuring that electronic exchanges of information and any regional meetings that are held by the Department of Education are public and notice of such meetings and exchanges are proactively provided to the interested stakeholders. This outreach is important for all sides and I believe will benefit the overall rulemaking process.

My amendment also prohibits the Department of Education from imposing additional requirements in rules, regulations, and nonregulatory guidance that have not been specifically authorized in the underlying legislation. This is an important step to ensure that education policy is implemented at the local level by leaders who are held accountable by the students, parents, and taxpayers they represent.

Nearly all States have delegated the power and authority to decide the direction of their school districts to the local school boards. My amendment reinforces the notion that local school board members can continue to exercise the power and authority they were given by the communities they represent.

Let's stop further unlegislated, unfunded mandates by the Federal Government and vote ``yes'' on amendment 44.

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