Student Success Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. HECK of Nevada. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 5, the Student Success Act, because it will improve education in America and help our students succeed.

My district in southern Nevada is home to, and my three children are products of, the Clark County School District, the fifth largest district in the Nation. While there are many stories of remarkable achievements coming out of these schools, I hear all the time from administrators, teachers, and parents that Federal requirements are getting in the way of them doing what is best for their students.

While only a very small portion of a school district's budget comes from Washington, districts do not have the ability to shift the funds to where they are needed most, and they are forced to use scarce resources to check the Federal boxes to receive those funds. This one-size-fits-all approach to education is Washington bureaucracy at its worst and does not take into account the specific conditions in our local classrooms.

It strikes me as arrogant to imply, as my colleagues on the other side do, that only the Federal Government cares about student success. No one understands the conditions or has more of an interest in improving education of our children than the people who work in our schools and interact with students every day.

It is time we turn control over education policy to those who are invested in the success of our students. The Student Success Act will do just that.

I applaud Chairman Kline and the members of the committee for their work on this bill and urge a ``yes'' vote.

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Mr. HECK of Washington. Mr. Chairman, H.R. 5 continues the sequestration cuts to Impact Aid. If you represent a military installation, you know what that is, because that's where Impact Aid goes.

I have the honor to represent Joint Base Lewis-McChord, the third largest military installation in all of America. This measure is not good for the children of the men and women who serve us there or any other military base around America. We owe them more.

But my bigger reason for opposing this springs from my perspective as a businessman. If I learned anything in the private sector, including serving on the board of a learning and training company, it is this: to compete in a 21st century economy, you simply have to build a 21st century education system. H.R. 5 does not do that. H.R. 5 does the opposite of that.

If you want, as I do, to grow this economy faster and create jobs, good-paying jobs, you are going to vote ``no'' on this measure.

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Mr. HECK of Nevada. Mr. Chairman, the amendment I'm offering today focuses on helping children that far too often go unnoticed or get left behind by our education system--neglected, delinquent, and other at-risk youth.

As a cosponsor of the Student Success Act, I am pleased that the underlying bill continues to provide for important programs that offer educational opportunities for youth in, or returning from, correctional institutions, as well as other at-risk populations.

Additionally, under the bill, school districts also may coordinate health and social services, operate dropout prevention programs for at-risk children and youth, provide career and technical counseling, or offer other mentoring services.

To help ensure that neglected, delinquent, and at-risk youth are given the care and attention they need, my amendment provides local educational agencies with the option of partnering with organizations that have critical experience and existing resources that would enhance the services provided by school districts to our most vulnerable youth.

Mr. Chairman, there are a number of hardworking organizations that are dedicated to providing a wide range of services and care to vulnerable children that need it most, and partnering with them would help these children.

For example, in my home State of Nevada, Boys Town has worked for more than two decades to provide an integrated continuum of care that assists more than 20,000 children and families in Nevada each year. These are children who have been abused, neglected, or abandoned; children with serious behavioral, academic, social, or emotional problems. Their stories are heartbreaking, but their personal development into independent, productive citizens with help from Boys Town is simply astounding.

Boys Town operates in a number of States throughout the country, and there are many other nonprofits and organizations that offer similar services. They have done the groundwork, they have proven their effectiveness, and they are a vital part of our communities and would be valuable partners.

Additionally, given our current fiscal climate, it is more important than ever to ensure that we are using all available resources effectively.

By allowing local educational agencies and these organizations more flexibility to work together and share expertise, vulnerable youth will benefit from the attention and care they need both at school and at home. Coordinating these efforts provides critical stability that these children deserve.

Children belong in the education system, not the juvenile justice system.

I urge my colleagues to support this important amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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