The Senator’s full remarks can be found here.
Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Education & the American Family, today led Democrats in a hearing entitled, “Choice and Literacy: Empowering Families for Better Educational Results.” Blunt Rochester’s message focused on the importance of investing in and improving public schools to ensure that all students have access to a quality education. She pushed back on Republicans’ efforts to privatize K-12 education through school vouchers, which divert public dollars towards the subsidization of wealthy students, often already enrolled in private school, at the expense of the 90% of students, and 95% of students with disabilities, who attend public school.
Mr. Richard Barrera, the Board of Education Vice President for the San Diego Unified School District testified on behalf of Democrats, and demonstrated through his own experiences, that when we direct our investments towards evidence-based strategies and students with the highest need, we can achieve excellence in public education.
Blunt Rochester is a staunch advocate of public schools and has advocated for the critical role they play in ensuring students with disabilities have access to education. In April, Blunt Rochester joined colleagues in introducing the IDEA Full Funding Act. She previously led 22 of her colleagues in writing to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon warning of the harms the dismantling of the Department of Education will have on students with disabilities.
To watch Blunt Rochester’s full remarks, click here.
Blunt Rochester’s full opening remarks can be found below, as delivered:
“Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you especially to the witnesses that are before us. I want to start off by saying that we agree: education is pivotal for our country. And putting children and putting families first is so important, which is why this subcommittee is so important. As the former Secretary of Labor in Delaware, I think about jobs, the economy, and how education relates to that. But also, as an American, I think about the history of public education in this country and why this is a tool for good citizens as well. We live in the wealthiest country on Earth. No one in this country should be using decades-old textbooks that are missing pages and wearing thin. No child should be hungry in class with no breakfast to fill them and no lunch to look forward to. And no teacher in America should be expected to wrangle 50 plus children at a time.
“We are the wealthiest nation in the world. Yet tattered textbooks, hungry students, and overstretched educators are still a reality across our country. But instead of solving these problems with evidence-based solutions – we know some creative things that are happening across this country – some people just want to wash their hands of public schools entirely. Instead, they would prefer to subsidize private education at the expense of the 90% of American students and 95% of students with disabilities who attend public schools. Some call this ‘school choice.’ But let’s call it what it is, private school vouchers are really the school’s choice. Unlike public schools, private schools can select their student body based on the criteria they want. They can and do turn away students with disabilities. They can turn away LGBTQ students, because of sexual orientation. They can turn away a Jewish student because of their faith. School choice should leave many families, sometimes it does with no choice at all. And I want more students in Delaware, I want every student in America, to have more.
“How do we fix these problems and get real results? The good news is we actually know what works. We know that strategies like phonics and decoding help students learn to read. We know that small class sizes, skilled teachers, and individualized instruction promote better outcomes for students. And there are so many creative things on the horizon. As we know, the federal government plays a limited but important role in education. We cannot and we should not be making curriculum mandates from where we sit here in Washington, D.C. But we can invest in what works. We can uplift stories of success that show the true power of what public education can be. Like in Seaford, Delaware. That school district is important because this school district has a high poverty rate, and they have been able to help Delaware students improve their literacy and writing scores by training educators, implementing quality curriculum, and providing extra support to students in need. If we really want a better future for more and more options for our children, then we must truly invest in public schools, and we must also make good on our promise to educate students with disabilities and fully fund IDEA. I would welcome the opportunity to collaborate with my Republican colleagues on doing just that.
“Unfortunately, the administration as we all know is illegally withholding over $5 billion in funds that would directly support teacher preparedness and student success. The president has proposed eliminating federal literacy grants and is trying to shut down the only department focused on improving education outcomes and protecting student’s civil rights. What our students need is stability and resources, and we must prioritize, not privatize, their futures. I would also say that I think we agree, we want better for our kids. I think that is what is in common. The question isn’t what do we need to do? It’s if we are willing to do it. And I hope my colleagues will consider working together, and again, thank you, Mr. Chairman, thank you, Coach, and I yield back.”
Key excerpts from Blunt Rochester’s exchange with Mr. Barrera can be found below:
Senator Blunt Rochester: “How would fully funding IDEA enable districts to better support students with disabilities? We are shifting money potentially that could be going to fully funding IDEA.”
Mr. Barrera: “Absolutely. Thank you so much, Senator Blunt Rochester. And again, the $58 billion going into this tax credit private school scheme is four times the amount that the federal government is currently spending on special education. Were the federal government to meet its responsibility and fund 40% of the cost of special education, it would take an enormous burden off of our district and districts around the country, states around the country, that are picking up the tab. We estimate at San Diego Unified that the federal government meeting its responsibility would result in over $50 million that we’re right now spending out of our general fund. That, were that money available to us, here’s what we could do. We could hire three to four full-time literacy teachers in every single one of our high need schools who could be working side-by-side with classroom teachers, building their capacity, to implement evidence-based literacy strategies. We could be hiring five to 10 paraeducators, special education aides that are with the students all during the day. These are investments that of course would help students with disabilities, but would help every student in the school, were the federal government to meet its responsibility.”
Senator Blunt Rochester: “Do you think block granting IDEA as the administration has proposed would improve outcomes? How would your district respond if that happened?”
Mr. Barrera: “Our district would respond in the way that we have always, which is to prioritize all of our students, including students with disabilities. The concern of course is that if IDEA or funding for special education, paltry as it is, that’s coming from the federal government, were block granted to states, what is the guarantee that those states are going to actually meet the needs of students with disabilities? It would be a really easy thing to do for a state or a school district to say, ‘It’s too hard to educate students with disabilities so we’re gonna use that money for something else.’ If you don’t ensure that that money is actually there to benefit students with disabilities, I think we are very likely to see a crisis in special education in the country.”
###
Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester represents Delaware in the United States Senate where she serves on the Committees on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Environment and Public Works; and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.