Sec. Duncan Urges Swift Bipartisan Action to Rewrite Federal Education Laws
WASHINGTON, D.C. – At a hearing on Capitol Hill today, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan called on Congress to take several steps to build a lasting economic recovery by helping all students get a world-class education. In his second appearance before the House Education and Labor Committee to discuss the Obama administration’s education agenda, Duncan specifically urged lawmakers to take quick action on a bipartisan rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act – currently known as No Child Left Behind – that focuses on preparing students for the rigors of college and careers. “Under the leadership of President Obama and Secretary Duncan, the U.S. Department of Education has made tremendous strides to build a stronger economy by providing our students with the knowledge and skills they need to compete globally,” said U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chairman of the committee. “If we’re serious about reaching President Obama’s goal of producing the most college graduates in the world by 2020, we will need to make sure that our students are prepared for college – and that they can afford to go once they get there.”
“We have made extraordinary progress in meeting the needs of our schools and communities in the midst of financial crisis and recession, making long-needed reforms in our Federal postsecondary student aid programs, and reawakening the spirit of innovation in our education system from early learning through college,” Duncan said. “The next step to cement and build on this progress is to complete a fundamental restructuring of ESEA.”
As Duncan explained today, over the past year the administration focused on making sure that education was not another casualty of the economic crisis. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included $100 billion in funding to help stave off layoffs of teachers and other school staff. To date, the Department of Education has awarded more than $69 billion of that funding, supporting 400,000 jobs overall -- including 300,000 jobs for principals, teachers, librarians and counselors.
ARRA also created a $4.35 billion competitive grant program called Race to the Top, which incentivized states to make reforms in four key areas: strengthening the quality of teachers, assessments, standards and helping turn around struggling schools. To date 40 states and the District of Columbia have made changes to apply for these grants.
In his statement, Duncan said the President’s 2011 budget seeks to build on that progress by meeting several goals: “supporting reform of struggling schools, improvements in the quality of teaching and learning, implementation of comprehensive statewide data systems, and simplifying student aid.”
Duncan told lawmakers that the budget not only lays out core goals for rewriting ESEA, but also seeks to further change how education funding is awarded – so that investments are used to leverage effective reforms.
“We also propose to increase the role of competition in awarding ESEA funds to support a greater emphasis on programs that are achieving successful results,” Duncan continued.
Last month, bipartisan lawmakers on the committee announced plans to work together to overhaul ESEA. The committee has already begun to hold hearings and has asked stakeholders for their suggestions for how to improve the law.
Duncan also renewed his call for Congress to enact the historic Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, legislation authored by Miller and passed by the House in September. The legislation would save $87 billion over 10 years by eliminating subsidies to banks in the federal student loan programs and would reinvest those savings directly in students, families and taxpayers.
The bill reflects the administration’s goals of investing in students from “cradle-to-career.”It invests $8 billion over eight years to transform early learning programs that would help our earliest learners arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed. It creates a more competitive community college system by investing $10 billion to help these colleges prepare students for local jobs in growing fields. And it makes unprecedented investments to make college more affordable and accessible for students, including a $40 billion increase in funding for Pell Grants over 10 years and simplifying the federal student aid application.
The president’s FY 2011 budget also calls on Congress to help make student loans more manageable for borrowers to repay by strengthening an Income-Based Repayment program enacted by Congress in 2007.
“Just as essential to preparing students for college is ensuring that students and families have the financial support they need to pay for college,” Duncan said. “No one should go broke because of student loan debt.”
For more on the committee’s efforts to rewrite ESEA, click here.
For more on the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, click here.
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