I strongly urge you to abandon this scheme. The second part is the accountability proposal. Let me note there are policies in this proposal we are pleased to see. That is how states set longterm goals. In a number of ways the bad habits for making decisions that must be left to states. This is troubling given the laws specific prohibitions. Years, states grappled with a rigid accountability system. The every Student Succeeds act turns the page on that bill and restores these decisions back to state and local leaders. I urge you to adopt a proposal that follows the law. Were raising his concerns because it is important for the law as written by congress to be faithfully executed. We are concerned because we want to ensure every child is the best chance to receive a quality education. We cannot go back to the days when federal government dictated national policy. It didnt work then. It wont work now. The department refuses to follow the letter of the law you will prevent state leaders from doing what is right for their School District. You will deny superintendence the ability to manage schools in the way that meets the needs of their local communities. You make it harder for teachers to serve the best interest of the student in their classrooms. Hear from these individuals. They represent the people we want to empower. Every child deserves an excellent education. On the way to do that is to restore state and local control. That is what the act is intending to do. We will use every tool in our disposal. The that, i recognize Ranking Member bobby scott for his opening remarks. Mr. Scott thank you. To enact this law last year. I look forward to the dialogue with both secretary king and the panel of expert witnesses concern in the ongoing efforts to provide states and School Districts with clarity and guidance necessary to ensure effective implementation of the every Student Succeeds act. I am proud of our collective efforts to have a strong bipartisan law worthy of the president s signature. Doing so with no small feat. Is only oneslation step of many. The filling the promise of the every Student Succeeds act rests in successful and limitations that honors the longstanding intent. The intent to support and promote and protect at all levels of government the right of an Educational Opportunity for every child regardless of race, language, sadness, or ability. Ofre is much decisionmaking the state and local levels, but it is not a blank check. There are important guardrails that districts are required to take action when students arent learning. Districts get to decide which actions are most appropriate in each of the unique contexts. Taking some action is not negotiable. Regulatory framework is necessary to ensure that this chicks are getting the job done, and taking action required by federal law. The regulations empower states and local districts to fully comply with the federal law. Getting this right is hard work. The federal government has an Important Role to play. To thank the department of education under the leadership of them acting secretary king for moving soak fleet to provide feedback, and necessary clarity to Community Members through the proposed regulations. I also want to commend the secretary for their transparency and continued collaboration with the members of this committee throughout the process. The department has demonstrated commitment to fulfilling its regulatory responsibilities is critical to helping state and School Districts move over. Ism this point, there considerable agreement. Some stakeholder groups originally urged that there be no regulatory framework, those same groups in combination with others on the negotiated rulemaking panel reached an agreement on the proposed assessment regulatory text. I want to thank members of that panel, for working and making compromises to reach consensus on proposed regulations to some of the most contentious issues in the entire law. Serves as as powerful affirmation of the need for the clarity and direction that the regulations provide. Department, the recently released this proposed regulatory text for accountability, intervention, data reporting, and consolidated state when developing. Again, i want to thank the secretary for moving so quickly. Many individuals and groups clarity ondditional these issues. The department he did those requests. The department has done so in the past. Im sure the robust dialogue with all stakeholders, including congress, will inform revisions and improvement in the proposal during the 60 day Comment Period , which closes august 1. I look forward to hearing from todays experts. Federal Government Works to meaningfully engage the diverse stakeholders to implement the new law, state and local leaders must use the clarity provided by the federal regulations to work collaboratively with allstate holders all stakeholders. The upcoming election will usher in a new administration, with less than six months before the transition secretary kings time is winding down. With this upcoming change, School Districts need the consistency and dependability to have regulations. I look forward to hearing from the secretary about his efforts to put in place a meaningful regulatory framework. Improveattempt to educational integrity. Thank you, mr. Chairman, and i yelled back. Chairman kline pursuant to committee rules, all members can submit written statements. Without objection, the record will remain open for 14 days to allow other statements and extraneous materials to be submitted. Now, my pleasure to introduce our distinguished witness, secretary. Asare glad to have you hear mr. Scott said. Last time you were here youre the acting secretary. Congratulations on becoming the official secretary of the department of education. Yourbody here knows background. We are delighted that you are here. I will ask you now to raise your right hand and do solemnly swear from her testimony will be the truth, and nothing but the truth. Sec. King i do. Chairman kline let the record show that he answered in the affirmative. Let me just remind you of the lighting system. It will apply pretty gidly to myy ri colleagues, not to you. Give your testimony as you see fit. It is been a long time since i secretary fornet speaking too long. But if youll try to wrap up in a reasonable time because were getting a surprising number of members to show up considering that the house adjourned. Im sure there was a race to the airport sometime early this morning. I want to make sure all my colleagues have a chance to engage in the conversation. Mr. Secretary . Sec. King thank you very much, chairman kline and Ranking Members of the committee. I appreciate the invitation to come back before this committee. We are discussing how we move forward with the the every Student Succeeds act, which the president signed into law in 2015. I am grateful that thanks to the leadership of chairman klein and Ranking Member scott and members of this committee, congress act it to reauthorize this critical piece of legislation. Hardworking educators, supported by families, our schools has made tremendous strides. High School Graduation rate is at an alltime high. Schools and 49 states are helping meet standards and assessing their progress. More states are investing more money in helping make sure that children are ready to succeed when they enter kindergarten. Yet, so much work remains. Far too many students still arrive at college needing remedial classes. Black and hispanic students continue to lag behind their peers in achievement and Graduation Rates. Our latest data illustrate powerful and troubling ways the disparities in opportunity and experience for different groups of students. Few statistics. Students with disabilities are twice as likely to be suspended. High concentrations of black or latino students are less likely to offer advanced courses like oculus, or physics which are also critical for success in college. 15 High School Students are english language learners. These are the very children that the elementary and secondary didstion act of 1965 wa was designed to protect and serve. Local communities and states have a pathway towards equity for all students. These are tools that will help them get there. Using the greater flexibility, they can go beyond test scores by adding their own indicators. ,hat will ensure a rigorous wellrounded education. We know strong literacy and math skills are necessary for successful stop they are not sufficient. Importantly, a rigorous wellrounded education helps make critical connections among learning ine school. And the skills they need to become the sophisticated thinkers and leaders who will follow the most pressing challenges facing our communities. Work requiresthis all of us, state are expected to educators,al business leaders, and other state cultures in choosing indicators of quality such as decreasing chronic absenteeism or students taking and passing advanced classes. This also includes protections and Additional Resources for traditionally underserved students. Lowents of color, from income families, learning english, native american students, foster and homeless youth, and migrant and seasonal farm working children. The state must take meaningful steps to improve schools where groups are struggling and there are low Graduation Rates. The bucks ability allows them to tailor these interventions to schools specific and needs. As with all policies, the fidelity of implementation is critical to success. Allow me to update you on our progress. The first thing we did was listen. We have convened over 200 meetings across the state. This included dozens of meetings and educators in rural suburban communities across the country. We posted a notice seeking Public Comment on areas in need of regulation for thought we requested the back on areas in need of guidance. In response, we prioritize accountability and data reporting. We had assessment under title i and title is requirement that federal dollars supplement nonsupplant state and local funds. This past spring we negotiated with rulemaking on title ix part a assessment. Input weiate the received. We reached consensus on this estimate. Enforceont know how to the laws. We are considering how best to address the feedback we received. Month, we issued our notice of proposed rulemaking on accountability, state plans, and data recording. We encourage comment on those proposed regulations. Consistent with the strong civil rights legislation, this ensures a focus on all students for the making sure to follow some students for accountability. And making sure meaningful action is taken for low performing schools the families, educators, and stakeholders. It ensures students and families accurate picture of academic performance. I announced the department would issue nonregulatory guidelines in key areas concerning student with foster care, and English Learners. These areas has raised has been raised as priority issues. I am happy to report that we released guidelines for children in foster care this morning. This includes protections for foster youth because of their mobility. They lagged behind their peers academically. Our guidance clarifies the new statutory requirements for children in foster care for collaboration. It highlights promising examples to guide implementation. We plan issue guidance. The department is also working on guidance as they implement title ii, and the provisions around Early Learning post at our aim with these documents will be to highlight examples and best practices. Noted at the top, we have made incredible progress over the past several years. There is more to be done. It provides the set Story Foundation to close those gaps and address our inequities. I am pleased to hear feedback on this committee today and look forward to working with all of you to ensure highquality implementation of this law, supported by the department. Thank you, i am happy to answer your questions. Chairman kline thank you, mr. Secretary. I would be happy to start that feedback now. Am partially quoted some of your remarks from february my opening statement. Came in response to my request that you commit to regulating in a way consistent with the statute. You said make sure i have it right you can trust we will letter of the laws removed for the new regulations, and provide guidance to state and district and districts. Our intent is to Work Together with you and gather input as we move forward. Proposalsrned your are not consistent with that commitment. The questions i, and others have, will reflect those concerned. I want to talk to you about the supplement not supplant proposal. Theou know, we asked Research Service to review the proposal. They agreed that your proposal would likely be illegal. Plainaid based on the language of the above provisions with the legislative history and statutory scheme as a whole, it seems unlikely that congress. 1. 1. 8. B toction 1 establish regulations that would require expenditures to exceed those of nontitle i a schools. I would like you to respond to those conclusions. As of the plain language does not require equalized spending. Explain, beyond the talking point already heard, a plain reading . The Historical Context for supplement not supplant is important. That language was added to the report that naacp your federal dollars are being used to back state and local responsibilities to High Need Schools. Particularly, it helps those with color. That is the history of that language was of the language clearly must mean that the federal dollars are intended to be a supplemental. We know that there are districts is spent on schools serving affluent students. With thenconsistent very word supplement nonsupplant. Our proposal seeks to ensure that we enforce the law as written. That the funds are truly supplemental for the we received feedback about the process. We adjusted the proposal from that negotiation. We have continued to receive feedback and input from stakeholders since the completion of the negotiated rulemaking sessions. To movingrward forward in a way that is responsive to what we have received. I thank you for the response. However, the point i want to get at is that the statute, the p lain language, is clear. Theoesnt say that secretary is allowed to decide on his own with the intent of the history of this was. He language is very clear. That is what the service said. Ask aboutwant to your accountability proposal. My concern is that you are deliberately attempting to increase the schools identified for interventions beyond what was identified in the statute. Five years from now what percentage do you anticipate will be identified for comprehensive and targeted support . The proposal seeks to ensure that states have the opportunity to broaden their definition of Educational Excellence. To introduce indicators of performance beyond just english and math performance, and Graduation Rates. It creates the opportunity for states to set goals and targets for performance. It requires that states and districts intervene when schools are in the bottom 5 of performance when they are struggling with particular subgroup performances. Lowwhen schools have Graduation Rates. The number of schools that will be identified dependent how states use that flexibility. Clearly, a priority in the law was to ensure that states act meaningfully in schools that are struggling. That is what the regulations require. Chairman kline as you point out, you dont know. That is not a surprise, how many schools would fall into that category. The department is doing some analysis of this as it goes forward. So, would you please commit to providing that analysis to us so we can see how this is going to unfold . I am afraid, right now, we are early. That is why i am glad you are here. Anlooks like there is attempt to increase the number of schools identified for interventions. We want to look at that analysis. Intent of thee statute. We need to see that number go up. We wrote the language specifically. Yield for questions to mr. Scott. Mr. Scott i would like to submit to the record documents civiled yesterday by 31 Rights Groups calling for stronger accountability regulations. Anohter letter from the leadership identifying the regulatory obligations to protect the civil rights of all students, including the supplement not supplant. Chairman kline without objection. Mr. Scott thank you. Proposedtary, the the regulations, what is the purpose . Sec. King the purpose is rust to gather input from stakeholders. We want to hear from educators, parents, civil rights organizations, tribal leaders, the business community, communitybased organizations working with young people. We will gather that input. We will address it. We want input from members of congress. We appreciate this opportunity to gather feedback. That will attempt to reflect the response we received. Mr. Scott you mentioned supplement not supplant. The upper 30 of education was a right which must be made available on equal terms. If a locality is chronically underfunding certain schools, is there not an obligation to come up with some appropriate equitable funding outside of the essa . Sec. King absolutely. Mr. Scott that would mean you would supplement over what your legal obligation is . Is that right . Sec. King thats right. Mr. Scott can you say a word you identify,ow students that all received the support they need. Some Schools Look Like they are doing ok. Some groups are not performing. Sec. King we have been careful to try to ensure that schools do not fall for the cracks for stub we dont want students to the cracks. Theregulations give states opportunity to set meaningful goals and target. It requires them to intervene where schools are not making overall progress. So, we will be vigilant in ensuring that states respond. And, states must intervene where subgroups are struggling, and s