The Senate Committee on Health Education and labor and pensions will please come to order. Senator murray and i will each have an Opening Statement and then introduce our witnesses and senators will have five minutes of questions each. I am delighted to have the witnesses here. This is an Extraordinary Group of broad individuals of Broad Perspective about children and elementary and secondary education and we welcome your comments on how we implement the the new reauthorization of the elementary and secondary education act. This is our third of six hearings to discuss the implementation of the every student succeed act which the president signed in december. It is the Second Opportunity for this committee to hear from states, School Districts, teachers and principals and others that helped us pass this overwhelmingly bipartisan law and are today working together to implement it in a way that is consistent with congressional intent. I want to focus my remarks on the administrations proposed supplement not supplant regulation. This is a very first opportunity the administration has to write regulations on our new law. And in my view, they earned an f. The reason for that is that the regulation violates the law as implemented since 1970 and seeks to do it in a way that specifically prohibited it in the new law. In writing the new law last Year Congress debated and ultimately chose to leave unchanged a provision in the law referred to as comparability. That is section 1605. This provision says, School Districts have to provide at least Comparable Services with state and local funding to Title One Schools and nonTitle One Schools, but the law plainly states that School Districts shall not include teacher pay when they measure spending for purposes of comparability. That is the law since 1970. We didnt change it last year. There is an entirely separate provision known as supplement not supplant that is intended to keep local School Districts from using federal title one dollars for replacement for state and local dollars and low income schools. What the departments posed supplement not supplant regulation attempts to do is to change comparability by writing a new regulation governing supplement not supplant. In other words, their proposal would force School Districts to include teacher salaries in how they measure state and local spending and would require each Title One School be at least equal to the average spent in nonTitle One Schools. The effect of this would be to violate the law as implemented since 1970, section 1605. So the Administration May get an a. For cleverness, but an f. For following the law in my opinion. The negotiated Rulemaking Committee couldnt agree on the posal. One member, a witness here today, tony evers, said congressional intent isnt necessarily being followed here, unquote. Last week the nonpartisan Congressional Research said the same thing. Crs issued a report that said, quote, the departments interpretation appears to go beyond what would be required under a plain language reading of the statute. Crs found that the proposed supplement not supplant regulations quote, appear to directly conflict, unquote, with statutory language that, quote, seems to place clear limits on the departments authority and thus raises significant doubts about the departments legal basis for proposed solutions for proposed regulations, unquote. Today im looking forward to hearing from witness wlz what ive been hearing from principals and teachers and educational leaders across the country is true. Here is what ive been hearing. That the departments proposed regulation could turn upside down the funding formulas of almost all of the state and local School Districts across the country. Most states and local districts allocate k12 funding to schools based on staffing ratios. This often results in different amounts going to different schools, and the same district because teacher salaries vary from school to school for reasons having nothing to do with the schools participation in title one. Instead, salaries vary because of teacher experience or merit pay or subject or grade level they teach. Two, ive been hearing that the proposed regulation could effectively require wholesale transfers of teachers and the breaking of collective bargaining agreements. Number three, ive been hearing that School Districts wont receive enough funds to comply with the proposed regulation. Number four, that students could be forced to change schools. Number five, that the proposed regulation could increase the segregation of low income and high income students. And number six, that it could require state and local School Districts to move back to the burdensome practice of detailing every individual cost on which they spend money to provide a basic Education Program to all students which is exactly what we trying to free states and districts from when we passed the law. According to the counsel of great city schools, the proposed regulation would cost 3. 9 billion a year just for their 69 urban School Systems to eliminate the differences in spending between schools. What the department has done for the first time is to try to put together the two major provisions of law that have always been separate. On comparability, which is the first one, members of this committee discussed and debated changing this provision. We discussed it at great length over the last six years. Senator bennett of colorado has lots of experience with this. Had one proposal. I had another. We ultimately decided not to make changes in comparability. Instead, we included more transparency in the form of public reporting on the amount districts are spending on each student, including teachers salaries so parents and teachers know how much money is being spent and can make their own decisions about what to do rather than the federal government mandating it be used in comparability calculations. Then on the second provision on supplement not supplant, we address this provision and made changes with an effort to simplify the law and make it not make it more complicated. By no stretch of the imagination did we intend to does any of the language in the law say that supplement not supplant may be used to modify the comparability provision. In fact, we specifically prohibited that. We prohibited expressly the secretary from requiring local School Districts to identify individual costs or services as supplemental. We prohibited the secretary from prescribing any specific methodology that districts use to distribute state and local funds. And most importantly, we prohibited the secretary from requiring a state and local School District or school to equalize spending. The proposed regulation is nothing less than a brazen effort to deliberately ignore a law that passed the senate 8515, passed the house 35964 and was signed by the president. No one has to guess what the law says. As the Congressional Research service says, we can just read its plain language. And if the administration cant follow language on this, it raises grave questions about what we might expect from future regulations. Senator murray. Well, thank you chairman alexander for holding this hearing. I really appreciate all of our witnesses for taking the time to be here with us today. Last year, as you know, chairman alexander and i worked together on legislation to fix no child left behind. And we both agreed, in fact, nearly everyone across the country agreed the law had been badly broken and im proud we were able to breakthrough that partisan gridlock and find Common Ground and pass the every Student Succeeds act with strong bipartisan support. At its heart, the nations primary elementary and secondary education law is a civil rights law and it is in that spirit that i along with my colleagues work to help make sure all students will have access to a quality education regardless of where they live or how they learn or how much money their parents make. Now that our law is on the books, im committed to making sure it helps our students and our parents and our teachers and our schools in my home state and across the country. As a reminder, here is what our education law. The every student suck said act gives states more flexibility. But it also includes strong federal guard rails for states as they design their accountability systems. It preserves the departments rule, to implement and enforce the laws federal requirements and also reduces reliance on highstakes testing and makes significant new developments to expand access to preschool for the nations youngest learners to name just a few provisions of the law. Right now the department of education and states are taking this law from legislative text to action steps. While the department goes through this process, and as states develop new systems and policies, ill continue to closely monitor several issues to make sure our law lives up to its intent, to provide all students with a high quality education. I expect the department to use its full authority under the every student succeeded act to hold schools and states accountable. While we were writing this law, we were deliberate in granting the department the authority to regulate on the law and hold schools and states accountable for education and that includes things such as making sure states and districts take action every year to improve student achievement in any school that has groups of students who are struggling. Ill be taking a close look at any guidance and regulations from the department for School Intervention and support. Those things will be crittal to helping critical to helping low performing schools improve. One important part of Holding States responsibility for educating every child is fiscal accountability. I hear from teachers and principals in my home tate of washington about how important federal funding is to support their work. We need to make sure we support local and state resources and do not simply replace them. The regulation known as supplement not supplant is an important fiscal accountability measure, it is important to get this right. Many stakeholders, including teachers and administrators and civil right groups have provided thoughts on how to regulate in this area. I hope as the process moves forward the department will continue to work with these groups on this issue. Collaboration will be critical, not just for one particular regulation or another but throughout the prose to im process to implement every Student Succeeds act. And gets information from parents and right groups is essential in making sure the law works in the coming months and years. Ive been frustrated to hear from many stakeholders that they dont feel like they have a seat at the table as their states work on implementation and that includes teachers who rnts receiving arent receiving time off to be part of state planning sessions and parents who cant attend meetings during the work day. A long with the Ranking Member bobby scott in the house have asked the department to help states and districts eliminate the systemic barriers that stakeholders face in getting involved in the implementation process. Ill continue to encourage stake holders like all of those represents here today and many more to stay active and make their voices heard throughout the implementation process. It is up to all of us to uphold the legacy and promise of the primary education law works for all students and i look forward to hearing from everyone today on how we can make sure that this law helps provide a good education for every child. Thank you. Thank you senator murray and thanks to you and the other members of the committee for your hard work on this legislation. Im pleased to welcome seven witnesses to our hearing today. Thank you to each of you for coming and for all youve done to help improve the education of the nations children. Senator hatch, former chairman of this committee, will introduce our first witness. Who is miss lily garcia, president of the National Education association. Senator hatch. Thank you, and i appreciate this opportunity and im pleased to be here today and grateful we could be joined by a true leader in education policy, lily garcia. I consider myself lucky to know lily. And even lucky to call her a friend. It is truly an honor to introduce her to the committee today. Miss garcia has had a remarkable path in education. She began her career as a cafeteria worker and became an aide to a special education teacher. And as young mother, she worked her way through the university of utah where she graduated magnum couple laudy with a bachelors degree in education and laster earned a masters degree in instructional technology. She taught fourth and fifth and sixth grade in utah. And while in utah, she also worked with Homeless Children in a single classroom, mentored Student Teachers and acted as a Peer Assistant Team leader. After demonstrating her effectiveness in the classroom, she was named utah teacher of the year in 1989. Her passion for education extended beyond the classroom. And eventually led her to a career in policy making. She served as president of the Utah Education Association before joining the National Education association where she has served as a leader since 1996. In 2014, she was elected to serve as the president of the nea. She was instrumental in helping Congress Pass the every Student Succeeds act and im sure she will be an equally helpful person as we work to implement this groundbreaking legislation. Essa represents a momentous opportunity for students and teachers alike by removing many of the overbearing federal policies stifling classroom instruction in the past. This new law allows educators more room to innovate and tailer their teaching to the needs of individuals and individual students. Were grateful for the role miss garcia played in helping this reform become a reality. Miss garcia, we really welcome you to todays hearing and look forward to your guidance on the questions at hand and i just want to personally testify how much i appreciate what youve done with your life. Thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you, senator hatch. Ill introduce the other witnesses and beginning with miss garcia, well ask you each to summarize your views in about five minutes and that will leave time for senators to engage in conversation and ask questions. Our second witness is miss randy weingarten, the president of the American Federation of teachers when represents 1. 6 million members nationwide and prior to that she served for 12 years as president of the United Federation of teachers, aft local 2. Our third witness is dr. Tony evers. Were getting accustomed to seeing him here. Welcome dr. Evers. He is the wisconsin state superintendent of public instruction. He serves as president of the board of council of the chief state School Officers and served on the department of educations recent negotiated rulemaking panel for regulations on the every Student Succeeds act. Our fourth witness is dr. Thomas ahart. He is the superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools in iowa and also served on the department of education recent negotiated rulemaking panel for regulations on the every Student Succeeds act. Our fifth witness, dr. Nora gordon, associate professor at Georgetown University and focusing on economics of education and federalism. And next well hear from denise marshall, from the executive direct patient attorneys and parent attorney and advocates. Parent attorney and advocates. She has over 30 years of experience working in the field of disabilities. Our final witness is miss janet morgue ooeya, she is president and chief executive council of la raza and advocates for the Latino Community for education and workforce and civic engagement. Thank you each for being here. Miss garcia. Thank you so much and thank you senator hatch. I appreciate that introduction. I am president of the 3 million member National Education association but more important than that, i am a sixth grade teacher. And not only that, im a really, really good sixth grade teacher. I give myself goose umps. Im amazing. I have spent the last 13 years fighting against what i saw as a cloud of test and punish that was hanging over every Public School in the United States of america. And i cried for joy the entire day that the president signed the new law, every Student Succeeds. That day would not have come without the leadership of senator alexander and senator murray and i just want to start by thanking you and thanking all of your colleagues for making in a day possible. I have about 14 hours worth of really good advice to give you. They told me i have five minutes. So i will talk really, really fast.