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▶ 0:11:40well good morning the uh committee on education the workforce will now who who typed that up for me take that the out education and Workforce will come to order I note that a quorum is present without objection the chair is authorized to call a recess at any time and may with personal preference or personal um preference I put put something at this point as well there is no more important place for any
▶ 0:12:11of us to be this morning related to our legislative work than in this committee education is key to everything that goes on in this country especially now and forever more so I'm glad that we're all part of this a committee good morning it's a it's a pleasure to welcome you to the first chairing of the house committee on education and Workforce in the 119th Congress this morning we're here to discuss the state of American Education unfortunately we're here to discuss
▶ 0:12:41uh problems that have resulted and continue to go on in education as well many students are failing to graduate from high school or college with the skills needed to be successful in too many places education in core subjects like math and reading is being replaced by indoctrination that must change I'm pleased to see that the Trump Administration is taking excellent steps to restore Common Sense personal responsibility
▶ 0:13:11and parental choice to our education system but this is just beginning and it is disruptive it will have to be to do the significant change in K12 education there's much work that needs to be done results from the most recent National assessment of educ educational progress show that students have still not recovered from the pandemic if that's the key excuse students are still scoring at lower levels in math and reading
▶ 0:13:42than they were in 2019 one reason for these shocking scores is that many schools have lost focus on teaching the core skills needed for a successful career while many teachers have done an admirable job helping students recover from learning loss many systems have become fixated on teaching divisive ideologies unfortunately these efforts have been fueled by the federal government itself
▶ 0:14:12in 2024 researchers with parents defending education found that Biden Harris Administration spent over1 billion doll in Dei grants there's a positive there's positive news to celebrate in the K12 arenia uh however school choice has grown dramatically in recent years more than 1 million students are benefiting from private school choice programs which has about doubled the number of students from just three years ago
▶ 0:14:42additionally we've seen a Grassroots movement of parent involvement Decades of research has shown that parental involvement regardless of socioeconomic status or background has a strong impact on student achievement and long-term it's encouraging to see so many parents get more involved in their school systems as well as the growth of parent advocacy organizations that support them their work has been vital to making schools function
▶ 0:15:13better turning to higher education we've uh seen rampant anti-Semitism and stifling of speech on campuses fueled by bloated Dei bureaucracies and America's adversaries are sending billions of foreign funds to schools to manipulate them all of this has in has resulted in too many students being told what to think instead of how think it's also the case that our higher education financing system is
▶ 0:15:43at a critical inflection point President Biden attempted to spend $1 trillion through executive actions on the federal student loan bailout program alone transferring student loan responsibilities onto the backs of taxpayers will not solve the underlying issue that the federal student loan program is irreparably broken what is needed now more than ever are real lasting reforms that protect both students and
▶ 0:16:13taxpayers from debt they can't afford our committee has hard work ahead of us to ensure our nation's higher education system Remains The Crown Jewel of the world we also must address our broken Workforce system we have about 8 million unfilled jobs in our country so there is clearly a mismatch between the skills our Workforce has and the skills I our employers need unfortunately the nation's Workforce system authorized under the workforce
▶ 0:16:44Innovation and Opportunity Act or weoa is failing to fill in the Gap fortunately our committee made tremendous strides last Congress in addressing these challenges a stronger Workforce for America Act passed the house with strong bipartisan support and after fur and after further negotiations with the Senate last year was poised for enactment I want to thank former chairwoman Virginia Fox and ranking member Bobby Scott for
▶ 0:17:14their leadership on that bill and I look forward to taking it back up in this new Congress while we have great challenges ahead of us we also have great opportunities in front of us and I look forward to working with all of our members to to meet these challenges that process starts today and I'm excited for the productive conversation we will have with this great panel of witnesses with that I yield to my friend and ranking member Mr Scott
▶ 0:17:45thank you chairman Walberg good morning everyone and thank you for our Witnesses for joining us today and uh thank you Mr chairman for convening this um uh this this hearing I'd like to First start with the elephant in the room and there is current reporting that President Trump plans to issue an executive order to eliminate critical programs to the Department of Education and call on Congress to eliminate the department but then I'd recall that um that's
▶ 0:18:15exactly what the project 2025 said the President should do said that on page 39 of project 2025 the iron is not lost on me that we're here to discuss the state of American Education while current Administration is actively discussing how to dismantle the main Federal agency responsible for ensuring the safe quality education for all students according to polls the majority of the voters opposed the abolition of
▶ 0:18:45the Department of Education and also know that I and every Democrat will do what we can to ensure that uh the that the continues now the issue on hand is reflect in the latest National assessment of educational progress data schools are struggling to make up for loss uh time in the classroom following the covid-19 pandemic achievement gaps which existed before the pandemic have widened according to
▶ 0:19:15that um assessment math and reading gaps between higher and lower performing students continue to rise as black students continue to be more than 10 points behind their white peers in all subjects in 2021 Democrats passed the largest one-time investment in education in the history of the United States in the American Rescue plan act to provide schools with resources they needed to reopen uh classroom safely and make up for lost time due to the
▶ 0:19:45pandemic without this investment we'd undoubtedly be in a worse situation today but um the rescue plan Act was only a Band-Aid on a larger issue of underfunding in schools and it is abundantly clear that we need subst sustained Federal investment over time to overcome Decades of underfunding unfortunately instead of investing in our children Republicans are stuck on proposals that only create more challenges for students consider that the first education Bill we considered
▶ 0:20:16this Congress targets indeed bullies transgender youth also my Republican colleagues have Miss represented programs intended to expand diversity Equity inclusion as the problem in education Republicans have threatened to ban books police bathrooms take away funds from communities that need it most and simply put the administration is promoting a warped vision of Dei discrimination eras eraser and
▶ 0:20:46inequity this all serves to distract Americans so that they will not notice that the privation of American Education systems with taxpayer funds uh going to private schools the the re segregation of public schools the erosion of services for student dis students with disabilities and cuts to student the Student Loan program and distracts from the fact that the price of eggs is going up while some folks may be hollering
▶ 0:21:16about imagine Dei problems many in the public will fail to notice how the taxpayers money is being siphoned away from public education and the Student Loan program to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and well-connected and so Mr chairman we can all agree that every student in this country should have access to Safe welcoming wealth funded learning environment that begins with eliminating disparities in education with sustained Federal funding this Congress committee Democrats will will
▶ 0:21:47reintroduce legislation such as the rebuild America schools act which will make critical Investments to repair and rebuild uh school facilities particularly in high need areas the equity and inclusion Enforcement Act which restore private right of action for students parents and local civil rights groups to bring discrimination claims based on disparate impact under title seven of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the strength and diversity act which provide resources
▶ 0:22:17to States and school districts that want to voluntarily develop schools uh plans to integrate their schools we have to take steps to lower the cost of higher education for students and Families and to that end will also reintroduce the lowering obstacles to achieve achievement now the loan act which would lower the cost of college for current and future student borrowers and their families by making critical reforms to the Student Aid System including doubling the P Grant improving Public service loan forgiveness
▶ 0:22:48programs and making loans more affordable and accessible allow me to that end to promise my colleagues and students across the country that we will not uh go along with programs to dismantle our education system we will fight any attempt to dismantle the department and so um we don't know what the plan will be but um count on our opposition to um any plan that will abolish the Department of Education and the programs in
▶ 0:23:18it so to that end Democrats will always be with the well-being of students teachers and parents across the country and uh with that Mr chair you'll back the balance of my time I thank the gentlemen purs pursuant to committee rule 8C all members who wish to insert written statements into the record may do so by submitting them to the committee clerk electronically in Microsoft Word format by 5:00 pm 14 days after
▶ 0:23:48the date of this hearing which is February 19th 2025 and without objection the hearing record will remain open for 14 days to allow such statements and other extra material referenced during the hearing to be submitted for the official uh record I'll now turn to the introduction of our Witnesses who we appreciate being here our first witness is Miss Nicole Neely who is the president of parents def defending education in Arlington Virginia
▶ 0:24:18welcome our next witness is Dr Preston Cooper who is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute located in Washington DC welcome Mr our third witness is Miss Mrs Jan Nelson who is president and and director Council of the NAACP legal defense Fund in Washington DC welcome and our Final witness is Mr Johnny C tayor junor who is president and CEO of the society for human resource
▶ 0:24:49management in in Alexandria Virginia welcome we thank you for all being here today and look forward to your testimony I would like to remind the witnesses that we have read your written statements which will appear in our full hearing record I would ask that you each limit your oral presentation to a three-minute summary of your written statement the clock will count down from three minutes because the committee members have many questions for you and we'd like to spend as much time as possible on
▶ 0:25:19those questions with your answers pursuant to committee rule 8D and committee practice however we will not cut off your testimony until you go too far I also would like to remind the witnesses to be aware of their responsibility to provide accurate information to the committee and so first I I'll recognize welcome German
▶ 0:25:49wallberg ranking member Scott and distinguished members of the committee thank you for inviting me my name is Nicole Neely and I'm president and founder of parents defending education and the executive director of pte action American education is in crisis for far too long US schools have focused on everything but educating children and as last week's Nate scores have shown our children are bearing the brunt of these bad decisions schools are focused on the wrong priorities identity politics permeate districts Across America in word and deed children are regularly treated differently based on race color conscious pedagogy which considers color
▶ 0:26:19blindness to be negative is omnipresent in America's colleges of Education 80 years after Brown V Board of Education segregated activities persist in the guise of affinity groups where stud students and teachers are included or excluded because of skin color the diversity industrial complex promotes programs like this conducting Equity Audits and hosting professional development trainings districts pay Dei Consultants Millions per year incentivized by the billion dollars in education Grants awarded by the Biden Administration over the past four years in the wake of October 7th anti-Semitism spiked in colleges and K to2 schools alike
▶ 0:26:49from lesson plans about subtle or colonialism to swasa on mirror is dismissed as Buddhist religious symbols District's lack aasal response to Jew hatred bore sharp contrast to the the anti-racism fervor following George Floyd's murder foreign funding remains problematic our investigation into confucious classrooms fund districts around the country with ties to CCP linked entities and similar program by the cutter Foundation also exists the full scope of foreign influence in K to2 merits investigation and is also a significant problem in highered which the deterent ACT I know tackles head on over the past several years Merit
▶ 0:27:20has been sacrificed on the altar of equity rather than challenging talented students to strive for greatness schools are eliminating gifted and talented programs and AP CL so that all students remain at the same level we are witnessing the sov ification of American schools in real time finally schools are unsafe under the guise of breaking the school to prison pipeline districts have removed school resource officers and moved toward non-punitive restorative justice making class or management impossible families are treated as the enemy trust between families and districts is fractured
▶ 0:27:50rather than partnering with parents schools work against them families are being shut out of their children's lives pte has identified over 1100 districts around the country impacting more than 12 million children in counting with parental exclusion policies which state that parents don't have a right to know their child's gender at school districts shouldn't keep secrets from families as a country we spend billions of dollars on mental health for students so why are schools telling kids that their parents love is conditional and that maybe it's time to lead a double life over the past four years parental rights were routinely
▶ 0:28:20disrespected by the federal government when parents spoke up they were attacked by the media and doj through our foyers pte discovered that the National School Board Association worked with the Department of Education officials to smear American families as George Washington Carver said education is the key to unlock the golden door of Freedom the country's Equity experiment has been an unequivocal failure and it's time to move on let's refocus schools on core subjects prioritizing excellence and creating opportunities for those who work hard although battered the American education system is not Beyond repair but to get things
▶ 0:28:51back on track it's going to take a genuine partnership between families and Educators thank you thank you Mrs Neely thank you for setting the standard for three minutes I now recognize that Dr Cooper good morning chairman Wahlberg ranking member Scott and distinguished members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the state of post-secondary education and the federal government's role in shaping it my name is Preston Cooper and I
▶ 0:29:21a senior fellow focusing on the economics of higher education at the American Enterprise Institute Americans are losing confidence in the higher education system according to the Wall Street Journal 56% of Americans believe that a four-year college education is no longer worth the cost this changing sentiment has translated into a 12% drop in college enrollment since 2010 to be sure higher education can be a great investment for students but all too often that investment does not pay off when students pay too much Intuition or don't learn the skills they need to
▶ 0:29:51get a good job or even fail to complete their degree programs at all uh the decision to pursue higher education becomes less of an invest M and more of a gamble the federal government heavily subsidizes higher education programs with little return on investment for students between 2018 and 2022 I estimate that at least $37 billion in pel Grants and $86 billion in federal student loans flow to degree programs that did not lead to a return on investment for students when students pay for much too much for college relative to
▶ 0:30:21what they earn after leaving school it becomes harder to pay down their loan balances before the pandemic 11 million Borrowers were either in default or delinquent on their debts Millions more were taking advantage of income driven repayment loan forbearance and other options to reduce or eliminate their monthly payments these high rates of loan non-payment mean that the Congressional budget office expects that taxpayers will lose $223 billion on student loans newly originated between 2025 and 2034 and that's to say nothing
▶ 0:30:51of expected losses on outstanding loans while former President Biden's largely unsuccessful efforts to cancel student loans on mass did little to help matters the student loan program's problems predate his administration fortunately Congress has a unique opportunity to address many of the long-standing problems in the federal student loan program the college cost reduction act introduced last year takes a three-pronged approach to fixing things reforming the student loan repayment system imposing sensible caps on borrowing and holding
▶ 0:31:21colleges accountable for how well they serve students postsecondary education in America suffers from high costs uneven Financial value and a chaotic student loan system that creates more problems than it solves addressing these challenges would represent a strong first step toward restoring public confidence in American higher education thank you for your attention and I look forward to your questions thank you Mr Cooper I recognize uh Mrs Nelson for good morning good morning chairman Walberg
▶ 0:31:52uh and ranking member Scott and distinguished committee members thank you for the opportunity to testify I am Jana Nelson president and director councel of the legal defense fund since our founding 85 years ago by thard Marshall we have fought to ensure that black students and indeed all students have equal access to education 70 years ago the Supreme Court's unanimous decision in Brown versus Board of Education ended legal racial segregation in public schools
▶ 0:32:22writing for the majority chief justice Warren said that equal public educ ation is the very Foundation of good citizenship public education is critical to the health of our economy and it is essential to the viability of our democracy sadly Brown's mandate to provide all students with quality learning experiences that respect their full Humanity intelligence and dignity regardless of
▶ 0:32:53their race ethnicity or gender identity or ility is under Fierce Attack under the guise of promoting so-called school choice or parental rights has emerged a reincarnated massive resistance to highquality Equitable and inclusive public education that performs for all this massive resistance 2.0 seeks to achieve what George Wallace and his extremist acolytes
▶ 0:33:23could not the hoarding of public resources to fund private educ ation for a privileged few at the expense of the many our school system disproportionately fails lowi income black brown indigenous disabled and new English Learners in alarming ways they faced vastly une equal educational resources leading to significant disparities in academic outcomes we can all agree that our K
▶ 0:33:53through 12 system must do better yet instead of working to fix these persistent actual threats to the future of our country a well-funded cabal of activist organizations is lobbying for a separatist private school system funded by public tax dollars as the organization that vanquished state sponsored racial segregation in 1954 ldf stands firmly against a publicly financed
▶ 0:34:24separatist private school system in 2025 over the past 30 years racial segregation has steadily worsened in public schools this shift correlates with two major changes the discre the decrease in court mandated desegregation oversight and the proliferation of voucher programs that defund Public Schools privatizing public education and shering federal responsibility would be disastrous for the 50 million students and
▶ 0:34:54their families who rely on public schools and the equal access that they are legally mandated to provide president Trump's orders to restrict teaching and learning in inclusive and supportive environments and his threats to dismantle the Department of Education and upend critical enforcement of federal civil rights laws will demolish the very Foundation of good citizenship we must reject these proposals out of the
▶ 0:35:24project 2025 Playbook and approach publiced education with common sense and common purpose not separatism and self-dealing this Congress owes it to the millions of families who are scared of what these radical policies will mean for their children to choose a better path indeed if we are being serious about educating all of America's children equally we must Implement a proactive Vision that centers
▶ 0:35:54evidence-based interventions like Universal pre competitive teacher salaries rigorous standards whole child supports as well as gun safety legislation to eliminate both barriers to equal uh education and to truly protect our children our country is at an inflection point and so is American Education we can build a system in which all students can Thrive
▶ 0:36:24or allow our schools to remain spaces of division and inequality with an Escape Route for some to line the pockets of private actors with public dollars I hope this Congress will invest in the promise of every child in America by strengthening our public education system that serves us all thank you and I look forward to your questions thank you
▶ 0:36:54Mrs Nelson and now recognize you Mr Taylor wallberg ranking M Scott I do that every time uh chairman wallberg ranking member Scott and distinguished members of the committee thank you thank you for giving us and me the opportunity today at Sherm we we represent 340,000 HR professionals worldwide uh we see firsthand the challenges of today's Workforce I just came back from Charlotte North Carolina where I presented to the
▶ 0:37:24management team the top 250 Executives Bank Bank of America and I can tell you they agree with everything that I'm about to say the education to employment pipeline is leaky it's broken and it's busted now that said our system is still the best in the world we are proud Americans but imagine what we could be if we unleashed the power of all of the talent first High higher education is leaking we've invested billions yet degrees don't
▶ 0:37:55always align with Market needs as Dr Cooper just mentioned employers are shifting their for to skills-based hiring valuing experience and certifications over diplomas and degrees initiatives like Michigan State's align Center for example and North Carolina's my future NC initiatives prove that we can better connect education to employment secondly K through2 education is really broken we've undervalued vocational
▶ 0:38:25training leaving students unprepared nearly 2third of our students lack reading proficiency programs like Aspire which is the aspired trade High School in North Carolina and John bounds High School's agroscience program show Hands-On learning works I have a 14-year-old daughter right now in Virginia Public Schools I know what's happening in our public schools and I know that many of you have devoted your lives including some becoming teachers of the year uh because we are committed to
▶ 0:38:55making this work finally our untapped Talent pools remain overlooked millions of skilled veterans older workers those who are formerly incarcerated individuals with disabilities they have and are ready to contribute we need them in the workforce as the chairman mentioned we have seven almost eight million open jobs in America we don't have the luxury to exclude anyone from the workforce if you're ready ready willing and able we want you there so we commend chairman Wahlberg ranking
▶ 0:39:25member Scott congresswoman Fox and others for their leadership and updating the weoa system we believe that we need to get this done in Congress we are heartened by the bipartisan interest in continuing the efforts of this Congress and encourage the following key Provisions to be retained direct at least 50% of funds for training leverage employer expertise and create new Staffing options members of the committee the solution is clear we need a national strategy that aligns education with Workforce demands and Sherm
▶ 0:39:55stands ready to partner with you this just isn't about jobs it's about people's lives and their livelihoods thank you and I look forward to your questions thank you Mr Taylor thanks to each of the witnesses under committee rule 9 we'll now question the witnesses uh under the five minute rule I ask members to keep our questions succinct so the witnesses have time to answer now recognize myself for five minutes of questioning Miss Neely in your testimony you mentioned
▶ 0:40:25the problem of foreign influence in both higher education and K12 although the last Administration failed to take this threat seriously this committee introduced multiple pieces of legislation last Congress to help address this serious problem can you talk more about what steps Congress should take to protect our students and the National Security big picture we have three things we need to do we need transparency we need notification and we need consequences um last session's Trace Act and the deterrent act
▶ 0:40:55address these by providing access to curriculum so parents could know what their children were learning um lowering the the reporting threshold for high the higher education um uh forign funding creating K2 reporting um and also looking into endowment funding as well as disclosure to intelligent agencies about what money is coming in um parents need to know so that they can make decisions whether they want their child in the classroom or not and also whether school officials are receiving compensation or donations from foreign entities and finally there must be consequences when these rules are broken foreign actors as
▶ 0:41:25well as schools be they University or districts must be held accountable for that thank you Dr Cooper uh colleges and universities often blame a lack of State funding for college cost cost increasing excuse me twice as fast as inflation increased cost always get my my throat over the last two decades yet those very same colleges have billions of dollars to spare when it comes to hiring administrators
▶ 0:41:55funding Dei projects or renovating their new football stadiums in your view is the lack of affordability at many institutions a funding issue or a spending problem I would say it's a spending problem the uh United States uh colleges and universities spend more uh per student uh than any other colleges and universities in the developed World more than twice as much as many European countries what's more uh State funding has actually been increasing on a per student basis over the last 10 years or so
▶ 0:42:26yet we've still seen tuition go up so I would uh I would argue that it's not uh State funding which is the issue it's the underlying costs which are the issue thank you um Mr Taylor as as you know we almost got weoa reform across the Finish Line last Congress yes you talked in your testimony about provisions of that bill that would improve the nation's Workforce system but for members who are new to this Committee in this
▶ 0:42:56Congress could you talk at a high level about why it's important for Congress to finish our work on those reform efforts and secondly um I would add to that in other words why is weoa reform an important effort for us to take back up this Congress Mr chairman with the reauthorization of weoa we have a generational opportunity to strengthen our nation's laws to ensure that American workers have the skills and the knowledge to succeed you mentioned earlier we have 8
▶ 0:43:26million almost 8 million jobs open in this country we need to figure out how to solve for that Gap employers are hurting and it therefore affects American competitiveness competitiveness many workers are seeking an alternative path to a job that doesn't involve a four-year degree weo and its programs are an opportunity for us to deliver that to workers and key to delivering on This Promise is to ensure that more not less we ow we ow a dollars go to Skilling and upskilling dollars
▶ 0:43:56that provide quality is that's what this is all about what we know with everything that AI is about to do to us from a displacement standpoint we owe it becomes more important not less yeah thank you and then briefly U Miss Neely give us your opinion why in recent years as parents have re-engaged especially after covid that they are seen regularly as a danger
▶ 0:44:26to our public public education system especially but to education in general unfortunately parents when they started to get engage in the system um asked questions and demanded accountability that the education industrial complex was not prepared to offer they have been used to having our children behind closed doors for decades spending money as they want and programming them as they see fit the Michigan Democratic party in the wake of the 2022 midterm elections said that um the purpose of a public education is to teach students what Society needs them to know they pre
▶ 0:44:56suppose that they know what families need uh what students need to know not what families want them to learn and so I think there's a big divide and that's why I'm excited that we have an Administration that now views families and students as stakeholders in this discussion rather than just the activists and organizations that have been funding and demanding money for so long thank you I now recognize my friend from Connecticut Mr Courtney thank you uh Mr chairman and thank you to the to the witnesses for being here today before I go into my questions I have to at least put on the record that when
▶ 0:45:26we was was uh agreed to by both sides it was actually included in the continuing resolution that was submitted by Speaker Mike Johnson and then within the space of less than six hours because of the intervention of the Trump transition team led by Elon Musk that there were too many pages in the CR that that provision was stripped from the bill we would today if we had if if the speaker had stuck to the agreement that he had had agreed
▶ 0:45:57to and negotiated we would we would have those weoa uh reforms in place today but unfortunately uh again the external pressure by the incoming Administration tanked it and and and that is just again a real step backwards uh for all of the issues that uh we agree on in terms of filling the job openings that are in the US economy today uh Mr Scott began his remarks talking about the elephant in the room there's in my opinion two elephants one is to
▶ 0:46:27abolish the Department of Education the second is the reconciliation bill which again we are seeing you know reporting uh that huge uh Grant programs and tax assistance for higher education are on the chopping block the human sacrifice to make sure that President Trump gets his tax cuts for the rich that's who's gonna that's what is being discussed right now in terms of paying for the reconciliation bill um attorney Nelson uh pop quiz for you uh the Department
▶ 0:46:57of Education was created by Statute in in 1979 to abolish uh the Department of Education Congress would actually have to vote on legislation to um eliminate the agency isn't that correct right and so since the um enactment of the Department of Education there have been consistent attempts by far right-wing republicans in Congress the last one as recently as March 24th uh 2023 uh Mr Massie offered an amendment to hr5
▶ 0:47:27to abolish the Department of Education uh that measure was uh defeated 265 to 161 60 Republicans voted in my opinion sensibly to make sure that Department of Education stayed in place uh again that the president's going to issue his executive orders uh pretending that he's actually doing uh the this achieving this goal but as as we've seen so far in the federal district courts where his executive orders have actually been put put to the test of
▶ 0:47:57Article 1 Section 9 in terms of congress's Authority for funding programs uh he's batting 0 for3 uh and again I think um it it is important for us to remember a reality check that if the department of education's existence actually resides in this branch of government in terms of moving forward among the programs that the Department of Education funds talking about uh Workforce needs is the Perkins grant program and again in my district visiting career and techn trade schools
▶ 0:48:28talking to comprehensive high schools that are now creating career pathway programs with money coming from the US Department of Education to to pay for welding booths um setups for nursing programs um the fact of the matter is is that the Department of Education is a major major partner and contributor to again achieving the goals uh Mr Taylor that you mentioned isn't that correct yes thank you now in terms of um the the
▶ 0:48:58reconciliation uh bill which uh again we we have seen that every committee you know at marago has been asked to again offer up offsets and pay fors to to pay for the the tax cuts one of the proposals that um again was reported by Politico is a republican proposal would make College scholarships taxable income again Mr chairman I would asked to enter into the record an article from Forbes Magazine hardly a far-left uh publication that again describes
▶ 0:49:28what this proposal is that to make scholarships taxable without objection um again I think really it doesn't take a lot of imagination and maybe again attorney Nelson you can help with this is just that taxing scholarships um raises costs and shifts costs to students in terms of college affordability isn't that correct yes it would so um again today's sort of discussion which is sort of beginning on this premise that you know we're going to have a normal
▶ 0:49:58discussion as far as you know education policy the fact of the matter is is that the the the elephants in the room that Mr Scott talked about in terms of uh basically blowing up the Department of Education and shifting costs to students is the real uh test and that's what we're going to be confronted with again as the uh reconciliation Bill comes forward and any package to abolish the Department of Education and again I look forward to joining those Republicans who voted no to abolish the department of Education to make sure that that
▶ 0:50:28that measure fails I yield back thank the gentlemen I recognize the the gentleman from South Carolina Mr Wilson thank you Mr chairman and we are very fortunate that we actually will be joined soon by the Ambassador uh to the United Nations at least toonic and so that will certainly enhance uh our hearing today with that in mind as we consider the state of education I know firsthand of the positive parts of this and that I am grateful my wife Roxanne taught
▶ 0:50:58at an alternative school giving uh young students the opportunity of a second chance my father served on the school board in Charleston South Carolina and my wife and I appreciate teachers where after the third grade our fourth son succeeded in math only because of Educators resulting in our oldest son Allan being the Attorney General of South Carolina our second son is an orthopedic surgeon our third son is commercial real estate and our youngest is an industrial engineering and these successes are really due to
▶ 0:51:29uh Educators making a difference with that in mind I I believe it's because of the success of local elected school boards and I very much support president Donald Trump for his courage to promote local elected School boards with the elimination of the duplicative wasteful interfering uh and Federal Department of Education uh and the funding clearly should go to the students and not to bureaucrats with that in mind Dr coer uh the American Enterprise Institute
▶ 0:51:59uh is greatly appreciated for making a difference promoting limited government expanded Freedom the AEI is crucial for addressing the challenges of American families and we want to thank you for AEI in your testimony you note that the Grad Plus program provides effectively unlimited loans to students allowing them to borrow institutionally determined attendance in the other words whether a school says there 10,000 attend 10 million the federal government will provide a loan the creation
▶ 0:52:29of this has coincided with doubling of the amount of graduate students borrowing given the structure of UNCA lending is there evidence that colleges have used this to unduly increase tuition there is absolutely evidence to that effect as you mentioned the Grad Plus program is effectively unlimited students can borrow up to the cost of attendance as defined by the institution which means if the institution says it costs $200,000 or $200 million students are legally allowed to borrow up to that to to that
▶ 0:53:00uh uh limit defined by the institution and this has resulted in increases in tuition at The Graduate level a study published last year found that for every $1 of additional Grad Plus uh money that went out the door uh colleges hiked uh grad school tuition by 64 cents uh the Grad Plus program has grown enormously uh in scale and scope since it was created in 2006 and graduate student loans now account for half of new student loans uh issued every year uh by the federal government uh so I would argue that you know the Grad Plus program has gotten relatively
▶ 0:53:30out of control and some sensible caps and borrowing are needed well we look forward forward to AI coming uh and producing Alternatives with that in mind too Mr Taylor you are right uh that the workforce training has delivered uh ex tremendous success with Partnerships between employers and Educators a stronger uh Workforce uh for America Act was authored by our former chair of Virginia Fox uh do you see uh what has been the success of that
▶ 0:54:00in my home state of South Carolina we're so grateful I in the district I represent Michelin Corporation the largest manufacturing facility in the world BMW we want everybody to have an X5 those are made in South Carolina and then while you're at it uh we can buy a Volvo uh Mercedes van uh Samsung products um Bridgestone Japan uh Lockheed Martin 787-10 we'll be happy to sell everything because a Workforce Development so how can this be achieved well you you've taken
▶ 0:54:30my comments because that's it it it speaks for itself industry has benefited the economy in South Carolina and ultimately in our country globally has benefited from that very successful successful piece of litigation of legislation um I think we need more of it we need to commit and double down on it you were and and and so we violently agree that this has been net net a significant win for employers and employees well hey it's it's job creation and we see it uh as South
▶ 0:55:00Carolina is now the leading exporter of cars and tires uh of any state in the Union I don't want people in Michigan to know that but that's true uh with that in mind um Miss Neely too indeed uh parents are under attack uh and uh but I'm really grateful that representative Julia Leto and the Republicans in the house have passed the parents Bill of Rights is this legislation working it's a terrific first step we look forward to continued engagement we think there needs to be teeth there needs to be actual um you know needs to be passed by the Senate um and
▶ 0:55:30um but I'm I'm optimistic that going forward we'll be able to make sure that we deliver as a country for American parents and that we actually listen to them well thank you all for being here today I yield back thank you for most of your comments uh Mr Wilson we're still the auto capital I recognize my friend from California now Mr Tano thank you Mr chairman uh Mr Cooper uh do you believe
▶ 0:56:01uh that the Department of Education should be abolished well I think that the uh Department of Education was just looking for a yes or no answer uh I think whether the programs uh that are currently operated by the department of you think the Department of Education should be abolished I I think it's immaterial whether the programs are operated out of think the Department of Education should be abolished sir um I really I really can't uh can't say because I'll take no um miss miss miss Neely do you think that the Department of Education should be abolished
▶ 0:56:32we won two world wars without having Department of Education so you don't believe it should exist um Mr Cooper Mr coer Mr Cooper do you believe Madam it's my time Mr Cooper do you believe that the Department of Education should be abolished Mr Taylor Mr Taylor uh I have to agree I don't have a I don't have a yes or no answer you don't have a yes or no answer all right so the work of the department dep of Education needs to continue whether or not the Department of Education as an institution see
▶ 0:57:02too often I think we I want to be work needs I I get what you're saying I get what you're saying so uh whether we abolish it or we reorganize it um do you believe that the president alone Mr Cooper can eliminate the Department of Education uh or reorganize it or does he need a vote of Congress to do so does he need to work with Congress to do that to eliminate it outright would require a vote of Congress but there's probably some things he can do by executive order uh so so he can just stop funding
▶ 0:57:32certain uh congressionally appropriated programs uh he could just say I'm not going to I'm not going to fund those tell Elon Musk just find that account and don't fund it uh it would depend on the program okay so um so you would agree that there are there are programs that are congressionally appropriated uh that he would need uh that you know he just doesn't have the power to impound uh I would argue that if uh Congress has specifically appropriated funding for a certain program then uh you know the education
▶ 0:58:02department is obligated to fund that program but there is some flexibility the department has all right so but but essentially to eliminate the Department of Education to abolish it uh he would need the vote of Congress to do so I agree that I agree with that Miss Neely I'm not a constitutional scholar and this is outside of my area of expertise oh so you you don't agree that um a president that the Department of Education which was established in law through a bill passed by Congress signed into law by the president that to
▶ 0:58:32abolish the the the uh the Department of Education that he would also need a vote of Congress to do that this is outside of my scope of area I believe don't know but you're an expert you're an expert on on on I represent a parents organization thank my RO Mr Mr Mr Taylor yes absolutely you would absolutely need a vote well I'm glad that um that we have at least two witnesses you know from the majority who believe that a vote of Congress would be necessary and I would hope that they would remind my
▶ 0:59:03colleagues on the other side of AIS what happened at us aid over the weekend was illegal that a president cannot uni unilaterally uh dismantle uh an agency or a department that was established in law that what he did was outside the law and illegal I mean I this hearing is called the state of American Education um but from what I'm seeing from the other side's behavior is that it really should be called the Republican surrender to a wouldbe King
▶ 0:59:33I would love to discuss the state of education America and I would love to have any semblance or productive discussion in this committee but the only solution that Republicans have offered us uh to the pile of problems that sit before us whether it's the abysmal childhood literacy rates in this country rampant gun violence in schools the astronomical cost of higher education and lifelong shackles of debt that we're signing up our college students for is to abolish the Department of Education um well either way let's imagine that legally or illegally
▶ 1:00:03the Department of Education has been dismantled um the department protects students and Veterans who have been defrauded and are victims of predatory loan schemes uh for for predatory uh for-profit colleges this is critical for veterans who are disproportionately affected by the student debt crisis before covid student veterans had a 46% default rate on their loans Mr Cooper if a veteran is defrauded out of their GI Bill benefits by one of the institutions known to pray on Veterans can they recoup that
▶ 1:00:35benefit for for veterans I'm uh Aid I'm not sure for federal student loans uh they can submit a claim through the borrow defense process to have their loans discharged well the answer is no once the GI Bill education benefits have been used by the students they are gone forever yet my Republican colleagues continue to propose cutting regulations which protect these student veterans including a loan relief after attending a failed school rules that prevent colleges from praying on veteran GI
▶ 1:01:05benefits and tools to discharge debt for vet students who have been defrauded by their institution um I I yield back Mr chairman I thank the gentleman I recognize the gentleman from Florida Georgia excuse me Georgia Mr Mr Allen yeah we wouldn't Florida last week uh thank you Mr chairman uh for holding this important hearing today uh and before I ask question I like to briefly
▶ 1:01:36touch on school choice um of course we hear the same old talking points from the other side uh you know we we've got to turn education in this country around and uh it's going to take some bold strong efforts to do that uh it's you Innovation is where it's at somehow we've got to motivate students too I mean obviously uh in this indoctrination of children is ridiculous I mean
▶ 1:02:06um you know it's Reading Writing and arithmetic it all it worked real well for a long time you know a child's future success is often determined early in life and in part of that quality is their K through2 education uh parents and children should have the chance to choose an education path that is right for them that's why I'm so excited to hear the current Administration speaking so forcibly in favor of school uh of school choice
▶ 1:02:37it's an 80% issue with parents in this country with that being said Mr Taylor uh with Rising student loan debt and many young people reconsidering the value of a traditional college degree there's a growing need for businesses to prioritize skills-based hiring over degree requirements last year the CEOs of Walmart and the Home Depot Coop and oped not everyone needs a college degree highlighting the importance of this shift across Industries Sherm has been actively
▶ 1:03:07encouraging its members to adopt skills-based hiring practices from your perspective are more businesses embracing this approach and what additional steps can be taken to accelerate this shift at the national level answer is yes and for the last four or five years if you weren't following it we have experienced is to turn over to to uh tsunami as they call it as well as the great resignation we employers need talent and a knowledge-based economy you lose if you don't have the best talent the best
▶ 1:03:37talent doesn't necessarily and I want to be clear because we're not anti- college and university degree attainment but the best talent shows up in different ways with skilled credentials ultimately what we want is people who can do the work whether or not they have a degree and whether or not that degree is from a fancy School employers are committed to allowing listen we got to fill these jobs and we're filling the jobs because we have too many people who are under skilled our job is to eliminate and I represent the world's largest Association of HR professionals we've
▶ 1:04:07got to get back to finding out do you have the skills to do the job not necessarily the paper that says you have the do the skills to do the job yeah well let it be said that Bill Gates dropped out of college because he happened to know more more than the people that were teaching him uh Mr Taylor while we all understand the value of a four-year degree agree is becoming clear that we need to shift the narrative around career Pathways prior to my tenure in Congress I own a construction company in Georgia so I understand firstand 10 the importance of having a trained Workforce currently there are over
▶ 1:04:37400,000 open jobs in construction and 40% of the construction Workforce is set to retire in the next decade Congress has taken an important step in supporting individuals pursuing skills trade careers by championing the bipartisan Workforce pel act which would expand pel Grant eligibility for short-term training program however with critical labor shortages additional action is needed uh Mr T Beyond this legislation what more can Congress do to expand access to skilled trades and education both in high
▶ 1:05:07schools and through Workforce training programs to build a strong Talent pipeline in other words there's some people that are motivated by other things right like skills how do how do we how do we tap into that well it starts in the K through 12 system I remembered going through school and we recognize we'd have everyone stand up at the end of your 12th grade and say who's going to college and the people weren't going to college weren't recognized we've got to start with letting people know it is okay not to go pursue formal education
▶ 1:05:38in the way that we've historically thought about and that it's okay to go get and acquire skills and they be credentialed and then ultimately a credential that says to an employer you can do the work so the narrative must change early that you have not failed because you did not pursue College that's number one secondly and you've right rightly pointed out after the passage of the legislation we've got to now talk about it a lot and encourage employers while there people will say they will hire someone with that without a degree what all of Sherm's research says if you put someone in front of you
▶ 1:06:08and that person doesn't have a degree but the other person has experience we still have a bias toward people who have degrees even for jobs that very clearly don't require degrees so this is going to require a collective commitment by industry HR professionals and thanks to you we have government backing to make jobs available for people who can do the jobs irrespective of the skills that the degree that they may or may not have uh Mr Taylor I'm out of town I have two more questions that I want to submit to you and I'd like to provide if you would provide answers
▶ 1:06:38to those questions for the record we'll do so immediately thank you and Mr chairman I'll yeld back thanks gentlemen now I recognize the gentle lady from North Carolina Miss Adams drk you thank you Mr chairman and fr ranking member for hosting this hearing today and to the witnesses thank you for being here Mr tell it's good to see you again uh let me just say this um I spent 40 years in the classroom 40 years so I didn't read about education in a report I lived it and I'll tell you right
▶ 1:07:08now that the way things are going we're failing our children and so that starts with teachers because if we don't invest in the people standing at the front of the classroom uh we can't expect students to succeed uh so M Nelson my first question is is to you uh according to the National Center for Education statistics according to the 2020 21 school year only 6% of teachers identified as black why is federal investment in teacher diversity
▶ 1:07:38crucial to all Student Success well first representative Adams thank you so much for your service as a teacher it is critical that students in our multi-racial democracy see themselves in the teachers that stand before them in their classrooms in the school administrators and in other leaders in this country it is important that they see representation and diversity in every position of leadership and it starts in the classroom it starts with their teachers we also know the legal defense funds th Marshall Institute
▶ 1:08:09has done research that proves that when black students are taught by black teachers and are taught by a more diverse faculty their achievement Soares and if we want to invest in our students we want to invest in a diverse faculty as well thank you you know this uh is just about who's in the classroom it's also about which institutions are being given the resources to uplift black students HBCU make up 3% of colleges in America but we're producing 17
▶ 1:08:39uh percent of all black bachelor's degree graduates 24% of black stem degree graduates 40% of black Engineers so Miss Nelson how are HBCU uniquely positioned uh to support the growth and development of black students uh and their communities if you can be brief I want to got some more questions sure HBCU have uh long punched above their weight despite the fact that they've been deprived of adequate funding we know that $ 13 billion dollar of land grants have not been
▶ 1:09:10distributed to the institutions that deserve them by Mandate of Statute so HBCU deserve greater investment and as you noted they not only deliver the greatest number of graduates they've delivered 40% of CBC members as well yes ma'am uh thank you very much um uh for that and thank you for the work that you're doing uh I really appreciate that very much uh Mr Taylor let me ask you a question uh as chair of the White House initiative on HBCU
▶ 1:09:40during the first Trump Administration you saw firsthand uh how underfunded uh uh how under funding uh holds these institutions back uh HBCU contribute 16.4 5 billion do to our economy every year and that's the return on investment uh yet uh our schools are still being short changed so do you believe that Congress should be investing more and if so uh what what what what do you think is a
▶ 1:10:10hold up well and thank you for the opportunity for those who don't know I ran the thir Marshall College Fund the country's largest organization committed to advancing and protecting the policies for our countryes publicly supported so State HBCU I think I start with the fact that HBCU or HBCU that is not a race-based designation in fact several HBCU have more non-black students than black students so that distinguishes them from them it is not a race-based distinction these are
▶ 1:10:41institutions that are open to all and historically have have shown that to be the case so it's it's really good that we have the numbers but even still these institutions are not that what I did under the Trump Administration along with the support of secretary Betsy Devas at the time and president Trump was to get the highest level of funding for HBCU ever to that point it still wasn't enough to your point and the Biden Administration has continued that work so this is not a political issue for us these are incredibly important historic jewels that need
▶ 1:11:11to be funded and it's not about the institutions it's about the students who attend those institutions who we in the employment in the employer side need to fill those seven or eight million open jobs so they are critical to our Workforce diversity thank you let me let me move on and and ask about the the Augustus Hawkins Center of Excellence the grant uh program that that's designed to support an array of teachers and address shortages and that funded an HBCU in my state yes uh uh North Carolina Central
▶ 1:11:41nccu as we say it was listed in in the recent Office of Management uh and budget memo freezing Federal funding now would you agree that this grant was on that list that concerns me I have two nccu graduates sitting behind me one a three-time North Carolina Central graduate and one who received his undergraduate degree who happens by the way not to be black and he attended a historically black college and university anything that takes away from fun not funding or defunding
▶ 1:12:11programs that work is n that not good for our country Yeah you mentioned uh that not all of our not all the students who attend are African-American students as a matter of fact we have a former governor of North Carolina who Governor Easley who received his grief from nccu so do you believe that the attempt to freeze those funds align with the commit gent ladies G lady's time has expired exping the educator Pipeline and you can send me that in writing thank you Mr chairman I'll you back I thank the general lady I recognize the gentleman
▶ 1:12:41from Pennsylvania Mr Thompson thank you Mr chairman and thank you to all of our witnesses that are here today on incredibly um important um I look forward to working with Mr chairman your leadership of this committee throughout this Congress uh Mrs Neely I'm a firm believer that a student's health and growth contribute to academic success and as you've noted we've had a troubling Trend
▶ 1:13:11in recent years of academic declines across the country to that end I recently introduced HR 649 the whole milk for healthy kids act which allows School food service providers the flexibility to serve students all types of milk and school lunches including whole milk um can you describe as a parent yourself the benefit of providing students with the whole milk option in the school cafeteria sure well as a parent my daughter is underweight and whole milk actually is one of the few things that she
▶ 1:13:41drinks and so I'm happy that I know she's at least getting some nutrients in addition to all the Doritos she has um but beyond that certainly we want schools to have the flexibility to serve students both what they want as well as what they need I think we have all seen the pictures of school lunches that have been thrown out apples that are being wasted said both from a financial standpoint as well as just a nutritional standpoint I think that's of concern and so to have schools be flexible to choose what they want I think is really important oh thank you for that um as a co-chair of the bipartisan Career and Technical education caucus once again this Congress I continue to see the rewards
▶ 1:14:11of highquality lowcost CT programs that provide Learners of all ages with tools they need to succeed in the 21st century part of the recent surge enrollment and Career Technical education is thanks in large part the sub substantial Investments and reforms Congress has made to CTE over the years much of that thank thank uh thanks to this committee um uh including most recently the passage of my legislation strengthening Career and Technical education for the 21st century
▶ 1:14:42act in 2018 it was subsequently signed into law by President Trump uh Mr Taylor in your testimony you know I noted two great examples of Career and Technical education in North Carolina and New York uh can you talk more about how these types of programs are equipping students with the skills and knowledge they need to fill the more than 8 million job openings in the United States today yes and thank you for this opportunity thank you also for your support
▶ 1:15:12of the legislation around cyber uh security and increasing the number of individuals who have the skills to help us from a national security standpoint so thank you very much Mr Thompson Congressman Thompson yes I specifically uh mentioned in my comments and in our submitted proposal that there are two programs one in North Carolina uh one in New York one they're all over but they specifically Focus one is on AGR science and it starts in high school so we don't wait until College to begin building this Pipeline and
▶ 1:15:42it's letting these students understand that there's a real career in agriculture and Agra business and there's significant investment so it was very wise A very wise investment on behalf of uh this Congress and it's something that we think needs to continue to be reinforced it helps Employers in the back end one thing that I know I've have met with the presidents of uh John Deere the presidents and CEOs of of Cargill and what they've all said to us is SC Agra business is not sexy people
▶ 1:16:12don't grow up and say send my kid to go work for an aggra business although it is sign it is absolutely a part of America our American economy and our Global dominance and so we have said that sort of investment is critical and starting in high school through those programs introduces students who would otherwise not know about it or in the case of African-American students who say historically we were pathed toward Agra business jobs and we don't want to go back there so it's critical that we say there are huge opportunities there for all students and so that's
▶ 1:16:42a great example of a program we also have other programs that Focus very early on cyber security training part of the problem when we look at the lack of diversity for example in employers who hire is that the PIP line didn't provide us kids who were skilled who were even aware of the opportunities in the cyber security World add to it what's going to happen with AI if we don't get this early we're in big trouble and for all our efforts to want a diverse Workforce we're not going to be able to do it because we have not prepared and
▶ 1:17:12offered through the pipeline a group of students who are even aware of the possibilities well thank you very much I I do think that given the fact that uh Career and Technical education including agriculture is is so much about Innovation and technology today it is getting sexier um you know um I hadn't thought about that not that terms but thank you for uh putting that in my head um the uh we uh uh
▶ 1:17:43uh Dr Cooper I have a I'm out of time but I have a question I I'll forward it to you at basically is about accountability and National accountability and higher education and and the role states which I you know some states do better than others in investing in higher education it makes a difference so thank you Mr chairman I thank the sexy chairman of Agriculture for your question I knew that was a mistake when I said it actually that's that's a picture in my mind we won't
▶ 1:18:15forget and now I go to the Harley writer from uh from New Jersey Mr Norcross thank you uh chairman and thank you for putting together this hearing now on the state of American education and congratulations on your first hearing as chairman um what a great topic because it impacts literally every one of our lives so many of us talk about education as that pathway to a future that we all want uh what at many times we don't agree on
▶ 1:18:45is what education is and should be and there discussions say that it's absolutely this or absolutely is that it's not it's a little bit of each it is as diverse as we are Americans so the idea that one size fits all and education just is not the way to go and quite frankly uh you know we've heard time after time that uh in order to Make It in America you had to go to college well you know what that might be true for
▶ 1:19:15certain uh areas of careers I want my doctor medical doctor certainly to go to college and we might even need a couple lawyers I'm not sure we need all of them but I grew up as I raised my son I was a single father and it was challenging and that's 46 years ago but I did something that was a little unique at the time that goes to part of the discussion here um I want to make sure that he and my daughter would see that
▶ 1:19:46you don't have to follow a certain Road I became a room mom for a bunch of fourth graders I will tell you 46 years ago they weren't real interested and seeing a male walk through that door but for the education of those children I think it was incredibly important and we've come so far since then Mr Thompson hey I think that work is sexy I will tell you career in technical education our education system needs to be F focused more on what the career what
▶ 1:20:16the job is I know it's great to have one of those pieces of paper up behind you but that's not a job that's not a career so how we get there is really uh something that's critical I I focus a little bit on the earliest years and how do we get there and we go through the schools in my district and quite frankly around the country we see there are some real challenges schools are in dilapidated conditions cyber is just a thought if you don't bring it in and that's why uh the
▶ 1:20:46uh ranking member Scott and I introduced a bill called rebuilding America schools act and invest 130 billion to go to to those districts who need it most not everybody needs to have the shiny marble Hall but we need the basic educational ability to go into a school and do that um when we talk about creating opportunities for jobs when we first started vocational schools and inside regular high schools are happening everywhere that fell off the edge
▶ 1:21:16and now they're starting to come back because they're finding out that next Generation to work with your hands is a value so Mr Taylor I just want to touch base on one thing you mentioned that it starts with Elementary education I say it starts with parents yes fa say no matter what they do I have a doctor I have a lawyer and I have an electrician I value each of them and we as a nation have to Value them but uh Miss Nelson can you talk about infrastructure in school and why
▶ 1:21:47that is important the basics have to be there absolutely uh children should be in facilities that enable them to learn we know that across the country there are fundamental inequities in school funding that leads to fundamental inequities in infrastructure in the state of uh Maryland and Baltimore for example uh we have litigated cases that have shown that the school system there is suffering from buildings that have leaky ceilings that have you know
▶ 1:22:17bathrooms that don't function and unfortunately that's not limited to that state there's the corridor of shame in the state of South Carolina where there's students who receive minimally adequate education if if that this is a chronic issue and sadly it Cleaves along racial lines it's something that we could uh certainly address with a better funding mechanism and that is something that this Congress could take up thank you Mr Taylor what is your view on this and on
▶ 1:22:47infrastructure particularly in the early years I I think it's really important obviously for students to have great facilities great teachers Etc but I don't think the answer is is solely throwing more money at it we look at some school districts in this country who are in the state of Maryland for example who have no funding problem uh Baltimore is one such example where more money has not solved the problem so I think we have to be very careful about the idea that we can solve all of this by putting more money against it oftentimes
▶ 1:23:17there's money but it's not applied in the in the ways uh that will most effectively benefit the children and that's so let's be clear we're not talking about throwing money we're talking about building infrastructure that's very different than giving a a a check often the question Mr the comment the argument is we need more money to provide those foundational and infrastructure Investments So It ultimately comes back to so people yes there's no very few people I've seen disagree with the fact that children from every neighborhood notwithstanding their zip
▶ 1:23:47code should go into nice buildings and have air conditioning and heat like others Etc that's not the debate but then it becomes but we need more money to do it and the only point is we as employers who were paying into taxes want to make sure that the investment that we are making that it actually yields a return on that investment in employers employment thank you as I'm looking my seconds going down uh this is a great start to a conversations your your time your time has expired sorry
▶ 1:24:17congratulations I know electricians can keep the juice going so and I'm a single dad too Mr nocross I like that yeah now it's a I have the opportunity to recognize the gentle lady from my birth state of Illinois Mrs Miller thank you chairman Wahlberg and thank you to all of our Witnesses for being here today Mrs neie you mentioned that parents defining defending education has identified more than 12 million
▶ 1:24:47children in 1100 school districts across our country impacted by parental exclusion policies our colleagues on the left sometimes argue that we are scaremongering to say that parents are being cut out of their children's education can you explain why this is a very real problem and how parents really do get cut out representative Miller as a parent and as a grandparent
▶ 1:25:18you know that we have to sign permission slips to give our children aspirin or sunscreen in school so the idea that our schools are now offering in intrusive mental health counseling telling children that they're born in the wrong body that Mommy and Daddy might not love them because of their politics or their religion is something that is so abhorent that this is happening with our tax dollars to our children behind closed doors this is happening in 2025 in America this is not a good use of taxpayer dollars it is destroying the parent child relationship and it is not just LGBT students that are hearing this last year or two years ago Fox News
▶ 1:25:48discovered that uh 349 students or teachers were arrested for teacher student for child sex crimes 7 5% of which were with teachers or with with their students um these are horrifying statistics um we we teach our children about stranger danger um and so to have our public officials turn around and say you should keep secrets from Mom and Dad is something that is so devastating to a country to a nation um that is appalling that we are even having this discussion right now Mrs Neely you mentioned that China has waged an influence campaign
▶ 1:26:18to get themselves implanted in our K through 12 schools what do we know about how many schools China has infiltrated and what are they teaching in these schools we released a report called uh into confucious classrooms called little red classrooms and we identified 143 districts around the country in 34 states um including 20 near military bases where Chinese Teachers Chinese materials curriculum had come directly from CCP linked entities um the dollar amounts that were coming to these schools were
▶ 1:26:48very low it's well below the Higher Education Act $250,000 threshold um but again receiving curriculum re saing books we don't actually really know what's being taught for all of our friends discussing teaching true history our tianan Taiwan Tibet weager genocide are those covered in these classes almost certainly not and so I think there's real concern as to who is coming in and what our children have access to behind our backs and I do want to challenge the parents in our country and taxpayers to get involved and find out what is in the curriculum in
▶ 1:27:18the school districts that they're supporting or their children are in books are silent teachers um to close I would like to commend president Trump for his strong leadership to safeguard and strengthen our nation's education system last month he issued an executive order to refocus schools on academic excellence and ensure education remains free from political indoctrination on the same day he signed another
▶ 1:27:48executive order promoting school choice and empowering parents to determine the best educational path for their children these decisive actions affirm the president's commitment to an educational system that prioritize PRI prioritizes students and parents over government bureaucrats and teacher unions thank you and I yield back I think to Gentle lady and I recognize uh my faith filled
▶ 1:28:19friend from Georgia Mr mcbath thank you chman Walberg and ranking member Scott and to our Witnesses for being with us today I have read your testimonies instead of addressing gun violence in our schools are taking real steps to get a handle on how expensive a year of child care or getting an education has become in this country my Republican colleagues have been circulating a 50-page document going over ways that they can raise revenue at the expense of American
▶ 1:28:50families hidden deep in the leak GOP memo is a proposal for a new tax on state and federal scholarships and fellowships which I would like to submit digitally for the record in my home state of Georgia students and families have come to know and love the hope and the zel Miller scholarships two programs that will pay for students full yearly instate tuition if they keep up their grades I would like to make this very very
▶ 1:29:20clear National Republicans are proposing an in increase on taxes for students and families in Georgia an increase on taxes for families across this country students in Georgia know that if you work hard in school the state will help you get through college and start a career but this new tax threatens that promise and undercuts the Financial Security of Georgia's families of this nation's
▶ 1:29:50families last year more than 185 th000 Georgians received almost a billion dollars in scholarships and grants through the Hope program alone all of this award money along with any other scholarship that a student earns would now be considered taxable income if this proposal by House Republicans were to become a law I'm a mother and I know how important hope and other scholarships
▶ 1:30:21are to all the families across this country I unfortunately never got to send my son Jordan off to college but we certainly had been planning for it and as a single mom working as a flight attendant before I came to Congress figuring out how we were going to pay for it was something that I thought about often and every day I thought about it until the day that he was murdered The Hope program was something I knew that Jordan and I could rely on and
▶ 1:30:51it would be a gut punch for who also rely on Hope and other types of financial aid to no longer be able to count on these programs without receiving a new tax bill I am horrified at this attempt families and students in our country deserve better Miss Nelson my question is for you in your testimony you did talk about the importance of student aid can you briefly discuss the impact that taxing scholarships grants and fellowships
▶ 1:31:22would have on students and families at all income levels absolutely and and thank you for also mentioning the issue of gun violence I'd be remiss if I didn't say that there have been over 700 school shootings uh in in the past fewer than two decades but to your question about taxation of scholarships uh not only is that concerning because it limits the opportunities to achieve higher education what many who are advocating for so-called school choice
▶ 1:31:52will do with those tax is siphon them out of the public education school system and use them to fund private education for just a few so not only is it taking money out of the pockets of people who need that funding to pursue higher education it is then funneling that money potentially into the pockets of private actors who are trying to usurp the public school education system is that something becoming more of a problem throughout the nation
▶ 1:32:22it seems increasing that those dollars are going to that very end and I just want to say thank you for that answer and I know that I will do everything in my power that I can ensure that this proposal never makes it Beyond this memo and I encourage all of my colleagues to fight back against this tax increase that will make students and families lives harder and more expensive back home I'm talking to my constituents and they are scared to death how are they
▶ 1:32:53going to be able able to afford to send their children to college most of the students across the nation they need help they need financial assistance and why are we cutting them below the knees and preventing them from having what they deserve it's a global and Stellar academic education they have to be able to globally compete and this does not do that thank you and I yeld back thank the gentle lady now I recognize the
▶ 1:33:23gentleman from Ohio Mr Ry thank you chairman Wahlberg Mrs Neely we've seen Trump's work to combat Dei and schools what else could be done to address the leftwing influence in our Public School Systems uh oversight is a tremendously important thing the executive orders are a great first step but um there's a lot of work to be done in Congress to put meat on the bones to actually put the regulations in place and so I think a lot of school board members are concerned about how this is going to infect them
▶ 1:33:53um they have seen that edtech vendors have dropped down menus of pronouns and so people are worried about exposure and so I think that to the extent where we're able to offer some um some uh reassurance of how this process will unfold in a clear and orderly manner um I think that's important but as we know these activists are willing to die on this hill of dividing students along immutable characteristics um along race along sex along things like that um it is in the curriculum it is in programming it is in teacher training materials and so there really needs to be a top to bottom examination both at the local level the state level and the
▶ 1:34:23federal level level I know that the Department of Education has taken steps to put people on leave I think that needs to extend beyond the federal government as well as going down to local activities because there is so much money as Mr Taylor alluded to in the system but it is not making its way into classrooms it is not making its way to students that need it it's not making its way into teachers Pockets ad the growth of the administrative state has been appalling over the past several years and a lot of the eser money that we received or that we saw doled out under the bid Administration again was used for Dei programming in blue States like California
▶ 1:34:53and Illinois and it didn't make it into addressing the tremendous learning loss that our children faced and let's remember even before the pandemic American Education was not in great shape our children deserve better we have a Lost Generation of children right now that deserve an actual quality education I can agree with you more I was a school board member for eight years and the exciting thing I've seen in the last two years you know Ohio is a you know it's a home rule state so we like to bring it back to the basics but even when you look at Virginia uh if you really want to take the school systems back
▶ 1:35:23throughout the country you want to start the school board meetings normally we know at a school board meeting it's very low attended uh normally unless there's something really big and controversial going on no one shows up there but you know the people have a very big voice within a school board and Schoolboard members know we will be responsible for our constituents to be reelected so uh your suggestions to parents that are concerned with things that their kids tell them that are taught in the school and how they approach that school board do you have anything for that my organization has guides for parents questions
▶ 1:35:54to ask ways to speak um how to get involved we're on the phone with parents seven days a week talking them through their two-minute comments making sure that they're hitting the high points this is very much a case of um the price of Liberty is eternal vigilance we cannot be everywhere you can't be everywhere the Department of Education can't be everywhere and I think we have watched over the past four years Americans beginning to re-engage their civic engagement muscles that had frankly atrophied so many people focus on the federal government but where you live matters your backyard matters your local elected officials matter and so for people to be able to get involed in that
▶ 1:36:24and not be shouted down by their school board members who frankly don't want the feedback that they're not doing a great job is a terrific first start I completely agree and now Mrs NE you also mentioned that the schools are eliminated gifted and talented and even I mean I'm even hearing AP classes is this in the name of Dei uh why is this an awful decision in your in your opinion for the students um yes unfortunately we are watching what's called detracking um multi-level classes are now considered a bad thing because some districts feel that the wrong races or the wrong kinds of students are in these
▶ 1:36:54classes and so the solution then is frankly ripped out of uh Kurt Von gets Harrison Burger on it's bring down the best performers so that everyone is frankly equally a low performer my daughter is in a gifted program um and she gets bored when she's not challenged I think we want as a country to encourage students to excel to work hard these are vert these are virtues that made America the Envy of the world and so why we would turn those aside and say no no no that's privilege no that's white supremacy is something that is such a slap in the face my grandparents met in an internment camp and they were able
▶ 1:37:24to pull themselves up out of poverty after they got out of the camps so to deny other people or for teachers and administrators to tell people because of your skin color you can't achieve or you can't do better the country is systemically racist is a real insult um you know students lack the basic skills to succeed in global economy and so we should try and bring up the low performers but also celebrate the high performers I I completely agree again I think AP uh classes maybe could be what unites both sides of the aisle to get back to where we get our kids as the eye of the prize
▶ 1:37:54so thank you so much Mrs NE and with that I ELD my time back to the chair thank you I thank the gentleman I recognize the educator for Connecticut Hayes thank you and thank you to all our Witnesses for testifying um geez I don't know who hurt you or what teachers your children have been exposed to but that is no none of this has ever been a part of my experience this week the Washington poost reported that the administration
▶ 1:38:25is preparing an executive order to abolish the Department of Education president Trump has long promised to abolish the department and Elon Musk has reiterated this those goals on his social media platforms since his Creation in 1979 the Department of Education has been committed to ensuring high quality education for children across the country as the chairman noted there are about 1 million children who participate in private school choice programs but 49.
▶ 1:38:536 million children participate in public school education what about them who is advocating for them there are not enough slots in charter school programs for all 49 million of those children the department protects the civil rights of students supports students from low-income backgrounds develops and prepares Educators provides resources for English Learners and is responsible for $1.6 trillion in Federal Loan
▶ 1:39:23programs in addition the department runs the national assessment of Education Pro educational progress and collects statistics on enrollment Staffing and crime in school the individuals with disabilities acts makes free and appropriate public education available to eligible children with disabilities in 20 in the 2022 and 2023 school years 7.5 million students receive special education or related Services through ID
▶ 1:39:54EA or the equivalent of 15% of all public school students shutting down the Department of Education would profoundly impact Title One schools it is telling that none of the Witnesses on this panel could say affirmatively yes that the department should be shut down because you know that the answer is no the department administers 18.4 billion in Title One program funding to lowincome K12 schools
▶ 1:40:24also as I mentioned the department runs 1.6 trillion in student loan programs one of its largest missions Mr Cooper in your opening you talked a lot about the cost of college and I think that the conversation we should be having is how do we lower the cost of Education not discourage it because while many of you have a very short memory I chose to go to college because my grandmother could not there were laws prohibiting it so while you
▶ 1:40:54throw around and weaponize words like diversity equity and inclusion the NAACP legal defense fund did not come into play in these conversations as a nice gesture it was to push back on laws that prohibited people like my grandmother from pursuing higher education and while you are correct Mr Taylor we need to prepare the Next Generation Workforce as we know
▶ 1:41:25in an industrialized nation that is not just going to be people who work in factories that is going to be the doctors and the lawyers and the teachers and the social workers and the community leaders the engineers which all require college degrees what we should be doing is trying to make every opportunity available to every student that wants it no matter what that is Miss Nelson can you talk a little bit about what
▶ 1:41:55would happen to the 7.5 million children who receive Services related to Ida from the Department of Education and need for us to be advocating for them what would happen to them if the department is dismantled well I'm glad that you mentioned the uh number of federal statutes that the Department of Education is responsible for enforcing along with the Department of Justice children who need IEPs individual
▶ 1:42:25education plans because they learn differently because they have challenges in different ways would be bereft of any federal support without the Department of Education they would have to rely on State and local governments that are often underfunded and often don't have the expertise to enforce federal law the Department of Education is an absolute necessity to the survival and thriving of this nation's students and especially those who are more challenged have you seen uh
▶ 1:42:56a push for all of these voucher programs and private charter school programs a push to attract those students no and that's the problem that's the problem with these private schools being funded with public tax dollars private schools are not required to accept all students they often reject students who have learning disabilities or who somehow don't fit the mold of a private school child thank you my time has expired fired I yield back thank the gentle lady
▶ 1:43:26and I recognize gentleman from Missouri new member of the committee glad to have you on it Mr under thank you chairman wallberg and thank you for to the witnesses for appearing here today in the United States today we are faced with a cruel irony that regarding K to12 education over the last decade and this trend does go back much further we have spent more and more on education public education and in worse and worse outcomes uh I spent a decade
▶ 1:43:56in the Missouri General Assembly eight years of that on the Senate education committee and over and over again lobbyists for the school administrators the Schoolboard Association the teachers unions came to our committee and and they had one message give us more money give us more money and in Missouri and this these are National statistics indeed we have been giving public education more money up to now about 16,000
▶ 1:44:27per student K to 12 and at the time here are nape scores the the of which the most recent data came came last week um these are plummeting they plummeted worse after covid I would say not after covid after the government respon to covid which was very dysfunctional and very harmful but we have this irony that um that we're spending more and we're getting Less in the way of favorable outcomes at
▶ 1:44:57the same time we have um what are we spending the money on Well here here's a graph of the growth in the blue and the green are the growth of students and teachers um about 8% both almost almost identical um 37% growth in principles and assistant principles and 88% growth in other
▶ 1:45:27administrators and by the way the teachers make on average $70,000 a year actually a little less in Missouri unfortunately the administrators on average make $103,000 a year so this is where our money's going this is where money's going we are taking our eye off the ball and not focusing on what really matters which is these teachers teaching these students how to read and write and do math and what's worse is we're getting the ball the
▶ 1:45:57our eye off the ball in other ways instead of teaching reading and writing and math not what to think but how to think instead um you know Mrs Neely um we are we're spending time doing things like well running urgent care centers in schools you know all the wraparound Services whatever if we can't teach kids how to read what are we doing running Pediatric offices and urgent care clinics and even worse yet we're
▶ 1:46:27indoctrinating these kids with pernicious ideologies kids are learning about the 15 latest genders but not how to do multiplication division and all um so Mrs Neely I just um I I Believe by the way I believe that the federal government is playing a very negative role in all this the federal government is only SP providing 11% of the funding but driving this administrative bloat um what can we and I believe abolishing the Department of Education is definitely a big part of the
▶ 1:46:57solution there are some good functions in the Department of Education IEPs and so on but they could be spun off but Mrs Neely how can we get get back on the focus of how to of educating kids rather than indoctrination and you know bloating our bureaucracies unfortunately I think a fish rots from the head um President Biden had a day one executive order injecting Equity into everything thing and we saw that play out in the form of grants in the form of other things as you know he who pays the piper calls the tune
▶ 1:47:28and every Federal dollar that goes out the door has strings attached to it where they know that they have to prioritize Equity over student Excellence let's think back to the nea's annual meeting several years ago where the general assembly vote did not vote through to focus on student Excellence but they do vote on things like abortion on foreign policy on things like that and so we have teachers union leaders that have sold out their members prioritizing things like restorative justice over actually educating children keeping teachers teach safe and teachers right now have t taken on such a large load they are an emotional support animal they're a gender
▶ 1:47:58support transition counselor that's like a $250,000 a year job that's not a $50,000 a year job our teachers deserve better and I think they want to get back to the basics because that was that's what they were hired for you know and when I talk to teachers in my district and I'm a physician when I've talked to my patients who are teachers they don't want to do any of that the great majority of them don't some are idogs but the great majority don't they're doing it because as you say the federal government is driving this train they're paying the piper they're calling the tune
▶ 1:48:28so thank you for your testimony I back I thank the gentleman and now I recognize the gentleman from New York Mr welcome thank you Mr chair and thank you m ranking member Scott and thank you to um the witnesses that are joining us today I was a former teacher of almost 30 years I taught science physics astronomy geology chemistry AP biology
▶ 1:48:5915 to1 living environment I work directly with students families and other teachers education is the great equalizer it's also the great stabilizer and our public schools schools are the cores of our community I was also the the founding chairman of the New York state senate committee on disabilities
▶ 1:49:29I'm also a parent I understand how critical it is to make sure that our schools are well funded that our students have all the resources they need to be successful and that our teachers are supported and have that as well in the New York 22nd congressional district it's the home to Great Public Schools schs that are supported by our communities families choose to move to my district because of our
▶ 1:50:00fantastic schools between my wife and I we spent nearly 60 years in a classroom and we spent those years in both private public suburban and other settings I've seen the disparities that exist between our own Public Schools and the inequities that impact the chances of students meeting the Great
▶ 1:50:30American dream and having that great equalizer of public education I'm glad that we're having this conversation today because there are areas of Education that do need Improvement but some of the things that I've heard today have nothing to do with what's happening in the classrooms and I encourage as the previous uh Congressman mentioned that you have conversations with your teachers with your friends that
▶ 1:51:00are teachers with your family members that are teachers that you trust also as a New York state legislator I was proud to support record funding for our schools as they are performing more necessary functions for our communities and we're asking teachers social workers and school psychologists to do more than they ever had before and as the cores of our community they have the ability to do so and have
▶ 1:51:30I've also increased expansion of universal prek into various areas of the state I more than doubled apprenticeship funding so that people can change careers at whatever point in their lifetimes including in their secondary education setting and that has transformed lives question is for Miss neie I started teaching in 1993 since that
▶ 1:52:00time we have increased the number of parent teacher organizations specializing in things like special education uh PTO we also have an increased number of Meet the Teacher nights we live stream Schoolboard meetings we have websites that have access to syllabi curriculum we have easy access to teachers with emails and phone calls and beyond
▶ 1:52:31all that we also have students in classrooms with cell phones that are audiotaping videotaping or live streaming instruction in those classes my question is a yes or no question do you believe over the course of the last generation that parents have less access and input into education yes I do I would argue that my experience
▶ 1:53:01and my wife's experience in a classroom and my experience as a parent your comment is highly subjective and inaccurate thousands of parents around this country would love to have access that your District does I have talked to hundreds of parents around the country who have to file public records requests on a regular basis to have access to those curriculum to have access to lesson plans I myself through my organization have paid approximately $100,000 over the past four years to gain access to emails lesson plans and things like that
▶ 1:53:31I know how to fight but most average parents don't know how to and when they do ask questions when they show up at a school board they are shouted down they are called names they are doxed by their colleagues and by members of the school board thank you Miss stey I believe what you're referring to are very outlying instances um I believe you're in New York we have over a half a million students that are identified as students with disab abilities I participated in uh CSE meetings and both sides of that table um parents understand that it's necessary
▶ 1:54:01to continue the Department of Education and that these students receive a fair and appropriate public education do you believe that fulfilling our federal requirements for our students with disabilities is a distraction as you've stated in the thank you Mr chair thank you thank you so much I'd like to now M Mr Harr North Carolina yes sir thank you Mr chairman and to all of our Witnesses uh thank you all for your participation today in this hearing and
▶ 1:54:31I have had the opportunity to review your testimonies and uh Miss Neely I I was taken in your testimony that you mentioned a threat of foreign adversaries posed to our students we know from reports from Watchdog organizations like yours that foreign funding is an issue at the K12 through 12 level and in higher education cause of the lack of accountability and transparency this is likely just the tip of the iceberg of what we know for example this committee worked with the select
▶ 1:55:01committee on the CCP and found that nearly two dozen universities across the country had specialized joint research Partnerships with China involving sensitive military technology I'm particularly shocked by the lack of caution our schools have when partnering with our greatest foreign adversaries such as the Chinese Communist party uh in fact all of this led me to introduce the no contracts with foreign adversaries act which would begin to tackle
▶ 1:55:31this problem at the Collegiate level by requiring institutions to disclose contracts with China North Korea Russia and Iran but my question to you Mrs Neely is can you just elaborate what harm does the take money first and ask questions later approach have for our students as well as for our national security unfortunately I think most school districts are not aware of the threat that is posed um in Fairfax the Thomas Jefferson School for science at technology formerly America's number
▶ 1:56:01one Magnet School partner with singua University High School which is um that partners with singua University a Chinese military school that is supervised by the Chinese defense industry according to the Australian security policy studies the Simpson County Board of Education in Kentucky entered into an agreement with the North China electric power university which works directly with ch the Chinese government's energy sector to push China's Global energy initiatives as part of its Bel and Road initiative these are things that local school boards and school districts are not aware of whatsoever oftentimes this is secure or classified
▶ 1:56:31information that these kinds of things are taking place and so for us to open our doors and open our databases to these um these foreign adversaries is something that I think is is appalling and that really needs Federal intervention so thank you for your work well and thank you for your work and for uh again bringing this information forward because I think it's going to be absolutely critical uh in protecting our national security as well as our our students going forward switching uh gears just a little bit um in the public school system
▶ 1:57:02Miss Neely this again is to you who currently has more influence over a child's intellectual development parents or bureaucrats um unfortunately it seems to be bureaucrats at this moment in time um when you have school officials that are telling children that their parents love is conditional um that their you know their parents might not love them because of their Rel religion or their politics that really throws up a wall that um unfortunately is going to create lasting damage much Beyond a child's graduation from high school and so um while parents often I talk to them and
▶ 1:57:32they say they have to deprogram their kids from what happens in school there is both the pressure of trying to conform to and please an authority figure like a teacher or principal as well as their peer pressure because everyone else around them is also getting inculcated with the same materials well I think there's a and as a followup to that I think your point is well taken is a federal system of supporting educ really structured to empower parents or is it set up more to empower school systems themselves right I mean I think you know looking at the influence
▶ 1:58:02that the teachers union leadership has had over the federal government over the past several years is something that I know is likely to um taper off over the next coming years and I think American families are excited about that well and I I'd like to give you a moment just to discuss any examples you've seen of parental rights being trampled on at the expense of the the woke gender movement that that I think all of us in the country have have been aware of I think in oakair Wisconsin they had a sign up and they also had teacher training materials that said um you know
▶ 1:58:32the right to know a child's gender identity is something that must be earned um I mean the idea that I have to earn information about my child is something that's appalling we've watched districts uh weaponize furpa the federal education rights and Privacy Act saying that children have a right to privacy from their parents that was not the original intent of the law and to watch local officials take and bastardize something that was intended to be both a sword and a shield for families is something again that is a deep slap in the face there are federal statutes in place be it the PPR um where that governs the amount of information and what can be what questions um districts
▶ 1:59:03can collect from students um often times school officials don't even know that there are things where if they're asking students about sexuality about drug use about politics that they have to notify parents and give families an opportunity to opt out that's because school officials are not learning what their obligations are under the law when they learn from their school associations when they learn from the superintendent Association the pres the principal Association they're learning about woke topics instead of learning about their actual responsibilities well thank you so much and uh I would say I mean you you've been a wealth of information this morning
▶ 1:59:33and uh to all of you on the panel we appreciate again your service and uh the information that you made us aware of today and Mr chairman I'll yield back my time thank you and I would like to recognize M from Oregon Miss Pichi thank you Mr chairman and thank you to the witnesses I'm not going to sit in this hearing today and pretend that everything is normal because it's not we're barely two weeks into the new Administration we've already seen extreme attacks on public education straight out of the project 2025 Playbook and here's a reminder
▶ 2:00:03uh members of Congress swear to support and defend the United States Constitution and no member of either party should stay silent as the Trump Administration and Elon Musk take unconstitutional and illegal actions to withhold appropriated funding or to violate our constitutional separation of powers I know that Democrats and hopefully some Republicans because we've seen that over the years will stand against attempts to weaken or dismantle our system of public education or divert federal dollars from public schools to private educational
▶ 2:00:33institutions that are only available to a few and generally not accountable for their student safety and success yesterday I was proud to introduce house resolution 94 with more than 60 of my colleagues in defense of public education and in defense of the Civil Rights protections provided to students under the authority of the US Department of Education an authority that is granted by Congress and I have to say I'm pretty disappointed that the chair of this committee said yesterday that he would support efforts to depower
▶ 2:01:04the Department of Education we are all here to I would hope do what's best for the students in this country uh Miss Nelson you testified that voucher programs and the lack uh of uh the the kind of public school accountability and transparency that's required of of public Public Schools um I do they obscure whether taxpayer dollars are effectively spent and whether students receive the support they need that was in your your testimony you also testified that divestment from public education in favor of
▶ 2:01:34privatized education will exacerbate the kind of transparency and accountability that's in the public system and I also want to note that I represent a lot of rural communities I represent urban communities as well and in rural communities they don't want their public education dollars taken away and say here we're taking away your public education dollars here's a voucher there's no place to use it because there's no place even close by to use a voucher so what are the challenges with holding private schools accountable do we know how students are doing in these schools yes and
▶ 2:02:04and thank you for for naming the the elephant in the room the elephant in this country and that is what is basically a grand Larsen of our entire federal government while We Stand By and Watch folks in this room attempt to pickpocket public education you talk about transparency and accountability and I've heard that mentioned by some of the Witnesses on this panel if we're serious about those two concepts we know that private education does not have the same oversight that public education does it certainly would not have sufficient
▶ 2:02:35oversight if we were to dismantle the Department of Education private schools operate under the radar we don't get to collect the same data and information that we do in public school so the idea that we're necessarily giving children a better education in private school is anecdote it is what happens don't mean to interrupt but I want to get some questions in what happens if parents take one of these vouchers and then go to a private school and and they discover that gosh this is what everything they promised is
▶ 2:03:05there any recourse for them well uh they can try to return to a public school but if we were to take this to its full logical conclusion and parents are shopping children around to different private schools we know that the infrastructure of public schools and the public school system will significantly deteriorate and and I appreciate that and I wish I had 5 hours to dispel some of the myths that I've heard here today but I want to ask you about this so-called parents Rights Campaign that calls for narrow-minded book bands and revision of curricula now everybody
▶ 2:03:35in this committee knows because it's the law that the federal government does not dictate curriculum and a lot of the issues I've heard discussed here today are local issues uh so recent efforts including the so-called parents Bill of Rights that actually moved through the house last Congress have been written in ways that could really harm vital mental health support for students and Behavioral Healthcare the need for Behavioral Health Care is something I hear about constantly uh in fact the National Association of school psychologists indicated that the bill would quote
▶ 2:04:05undoubtedly exacerbate the youth Mental Health crisis and undermine efforts to improve school safety I hope we all care about school safety and if we really cared about school safety we do something about gun violence uh but how would this Republican parents Bill of Rights and the dism mantling of the Department of Education affect resources and policies that Foster a safe and healthy school climate and how would students schools and communities be harmed well children need additional supports of course we all agree that children should receive
▶ 2:04:36basic education they should leave school with skills they should learn reading math and everything else but they also require additional supports as any parent knows as I know as a parent students are not just what they learn in a textbook they are nurtured by their teachers are nurtured by their environments and they deserve the types of Investments that will enable them to succeed what we've heard a lot today is a lot of anecdotal uh conspiracy rhetoric about what is happening in schools as a proud product of the public
▶ 2:05:06school system and a proud parent of children who have attended Public Schools I've seen nothing of the sort of what's been alleged today same I I spent years as a very involved Public School parent and I have to say that children don't learn when they're hungry or when they're sick so the thought of with withdrawing support or that support for students is not appropriate is is baffling I yell back thank you um like to now recognize my friend from Indiana um M Mesmer Mr thank you Mr chairman uh Mr Taylor apprenticeships are an appr proven model
▶ 2:05:36of pring paid on the job training with related technical instruction to educate workers for Career Success despite the grow growth over the past decade registered apprentices only make up about 3/10 of a percent of the workforce what are the greatest barriers uh to broader adoption of apprenticeships from an employer standpoint and what are some of the challenges in engaging and engaging students to pursue those apprenticeships thank you Miss Mesmer we um so huge huge huge supporters of apprenticeships
▶ 2:06:07uh from Sherm standpoint we need them again to address the worker shortage and more importantly the skilled worker shortage the earlier that we can allow people for example who do have college degrees to gain experience while in college often through registered apprenticeships we're increasing that pipeline of Highly qualified workers the barriers are one the word apprenticeship suggest especially when you speak about PE speak to people coming out of higher ed it's not quite you know you don't
▶ 2:06:37need an apprentice ship I'm a lawyer for training for example and my apprenticeship was considered a summer associate ship so it's the way we talk about it that has made it Le less attractive to students and so they don't rush to that because they assume that apprenticeship is tied to me becoming a welder which is a very good job and may pay more than that lawyer who graduated from law school but at the end of the day we we have to work on what has been the stigmatization of that word apprentice that's a barrier and then secondly and
▶ 2:07:07significantly for historically underrepresented communities oftentimes these apprenticeships are unpaid and I got to tell you as much as one wants to get experential treatment if you don't if you have to choose between and often times children I was one of those children who had to spend the summer making money to pay for school for the next year and so if I had the choice had to make the tough choice between an unpaid apprenticeship and working a job that didn't necessarily give me skills that would prepare me to be a better lawyer but one was unpaid that's a
▶ 2:07:37problem so to the extent this Congress can help us fund those apprenticeships we those are the two significant barriers that we see and by the way it's not limited to historically underrepresented groups there are number of majority members who come from blaz like West Virginia where they may be financially challenged and they can't participate in apprenticeship programs because of funding thank you um Mrs Neely tomorrow I will introduce the instruct act which will require intelligence agencies to boost their in inter agency
▶ 2:08:08coordination on foreign harmal influence in our schools along with retroactively share all past reports AC on the topic across departments in your opinion do you view view this legislation as a step in the right direction I think absolutely the step in the right direction schools collect such a vast amount of data about children on a regular basis and frankly it's not secured very well we all hear on a regular basis about schools being hacked things be data being held by ransomware what is going to happen when that with the information about either military families or just average families is held by a hostile
▶ 2:08:38foreign power that seeks to exploit us I think it's terrifying and I think your your bill is a step in the right direction thank you um does accepting money uh from foreign sources lead to education system being beholden to the values influences that don't share American values absolutely we don't know who is writing the books I think for parents to actually know that information means that they can make an informed decision whether they want their child to enroll in a mandarin course taught by a Communist Party official or if maybe they want to take a Spanish course instead parents deserve the right to make that decision with complete information
▶ 2:09:08which as of this moment in time they currently do not have thank you um in my home state school choice programs have shown to statistically benefit minority populations at a much higher ratio than the rest of the population Mrs Nelson can you validate with statistical data rather than anecdotal claims that school choice programs penalize minor students certainly and I'm so glad that you raised your state of of Indiana where more than a quarter of the students who are required
▶ 2:09:38to repeat grades in your state are black and nearly a tenth are Latin are Latino uh I will tell you that school vouchers in many of the programs that we are aware of have actually decreased the learning of the students who have those vouchers it has not improved their educational outcomes it has left them you can provide statistical data to show that I can I can provide statistical data contrary
▶ 2:10:09to what we've seen in our states well I am happy to share what what our Studies have shown and in fact if we uh look at the state of South Carolina I'll give you that example where the Supreme Court of the state of South Carolina just last November in a court case held that their Voucher Program contradicted the State Constitution and was unconstitutional because it drained resources from the public school system so there are significant
▶ 2:10:39concerns not only about the educational value when you use School vouchers but also what it does to destroy the public school system for the rest of the children the M vast majority of children who are left without vouchers and are in the public school system we don't just want to focus on those who have vouchers we want to focus on the majority of students in this country the nearly 50 million who don't have vouchers to shop around and try to find a better education
▶ 2:11:09thank you Mr chairman I'll yield back thank you I'd like to now recognize from Pennsylvania Miss Lee thank you Mr chair uh I am glad that we're having this hearing today because I I do strongly agree uh that the state in America uh excuse me the state of education in America should be a concern for all of us I think perhaps I disagree on what is the mo what are the most serious threats I I disagree on the seriousness um of the assertion that those most serious threats are
▶ 2:11:40things such as woke ideology or radical indoctrination or the fact that you know lgbtq plus uh people exists I however do believe that among the most serious strats are the active and deliberate dismantling of public education Republicans focus on demonizing our most marginalized students to distract from the fact that they have no intention or we have of course or we have simply not heard of any intention to actually improve the state of education throughout not just this hearing but in general around this topic we
▶ 2:12:10hear a lot of buzzword such as school choice our parents rights our education Freedom our IND doctrination or federal overreach and that is by no coincidence these are talking points that we saw were coure tenants of project 2025 in this plan conservatives outlined how they would dismantle the Department of Education gut public education strip away civil rights protections and impose an extreme ideological agenda on our schools right now the president is reportedly preparing an executive order to bypass Congress
▶ 2:12:40and illegally impound funds within the Department of Education a first step to toward dismantling the altogether the president has promised to attack these institutions and he's doing that let's be clear about what these policies really mean because we've seen them before these are the same arguments that were used to resist desegregation to justify pulling public dollars out of integrated schools and pouring them into segregated acmis and to privatize or prioritize incarceration over the education of black and brown students the language has changed but the
▶ 2:13:10goals seem to remain the same attorney Nelson when we hear conservatives pushing for parents rights and claim to be fighting against indoctrination what do you see are the natural consequences of these efforts and what influence do you think think it has on our students curricula or the learning environment for this for the students or the teachers yeah we absolutely believe that parents should be involved in children's education this is not a New Concept if you talk to any teacher Any teacher would welcome parents to engage what we don't want is parents to try to override the expertise
▶ 2:13:41of teachers who we have hired because they are specialized in teaching and training students about what should be in the curricula about what should be in in terms of our national standards right federal laws that have been passed that have been informed by experts research and other data not the anecdotes that people want to bring to advance their own political ideology so inviting extremist groups like moms for Liberty to determine what the curricula of this country would be
▶ 2:14:11would be absolutely disastrous they would be pedling a indoctrination by ignorance indoctrination by deprivation of knowledge and that certainly does not allow us to be a competitive country and does not serve all of our children to succeed yeah very quickly do you believe that uh dismantling the Department of Education would help us uh fulfill the promises of brown absolutely not it would be countered to the very premise of brown the Department of Education began because we recognized
▶ 2:14:41the need for there to be national standards and National oversight of our public education system and for there to be a federal apparatus to enforce our federal civil rights laws as they pertain to education and other laws thank you how do you think if if if at all do these conservative policies or proposals make our students more competitive uh improve the global standing of the United States or prepare our students to enter emerging careers or ensure that our students will be prepared to address the significant challenges
▶ 2:15:12on the horizons no to the extent that these conservative policies attack diversity equity and inclusion basic principles of fairness those are America last policies those are not policies that will advance our students to become competitive in an increasingly Global Marketplace in an increasingly global economy we should be leveraging our diversity it is our greatest strength we should be leveraging multilingualism instead we are trying find trying to find ways
▶ 2:15:42to really narrow the focus of our education and to replace it with conservative extremist ideology thank you and what the the most harm her you ual will be black and brown students students with disabilities and other marginalized students we will all pay the price as attorney Nelson just said while our commitment to racism may be lucrative for the billionaires running the administration right now the rest of this nation will learn that we will all sink or swim together the outcomes and disinvestment reserved or accepted for the black students will be
▶ 2:16:12reflected in our Global standing in Tech and Innovation while other nations invest in our in all of their students to increase their Global competitiveness racism in our Public School will serve as an anchor for ours I thank you uh the panel and I yel back I thank the general lady and I recognize uh the vice vice chairman of our committee Mr Owens from Utah thank you Mr Mr chairman um first of all this is such an important uh hearing state of our education uh one of the most important conversations we're going to have uh about our
▶ 2:16:42most important n National resource our children um it's it's been interesting first of all we can all agree based on recent results that our present educational system is failing our children miserably we pay more per child than any other industrialized country except Luxembourg and yet 60% this is not anotal 60% of our fourth graders 70% this is not anotal of our eighth graders are failing based on the nape
▶ 2:17:13reading and math for 56 scores we are paying more per student with a lower lower with a return investment 7 % failure rate and we can no longer do this and I I'll be honest with you I would be a little bit um more accepting as a stakeholder the NAACP if they were not silent when 75% of our black boys were found in in 2017 not to be able to read and write in the state of California we have here in Baltimore zero Proficiency in math for many of our students
▶ 2:17:43we have black mothers and and and fathers lining up to get into a choice a voucher program because they're living in in a in a in a a zip code they can't can't the kids cannot get educated and and we have the audacity to say we're experts at education the parents are ignorant and yet we have remarkably failing system uh the answer has been so far let's put more money into it you know I've been hearing this for 40 years we cannot disturb we cannot
▶ 2:18:13mess up this system because institution because our kids we can't take our kids out because our institution will fail well when we have this kind of failure uh we need to make sure our kids are are focused on in in that direction we need correction through Innovation Merit through every piece of the pipeline and the only way to do that is having this conversations and giving our parents a choice uh Miss NE I want to say thank you it's good to see you again um and I thank you support you have for thousands upon thousands of parents across this country that are not
▶ 2:18:44really respected in this body here um you other stakeholders uh as a parent I know what's best my kid and I would think everybody in this room would feel the same way you would do everything you could to get out your child out of a failing school system well we need to start looking at other people's children the way we look at ours uh your your Miss NE your testimony you mentioned the school districts paid Dei Consultants millions of dollars can you explain to us exactly how those Dei Consultants been what they were paid for sure in
▶ 2:19:142021 we released what we called a consultant report card we identified over a 100 Consultants with hundreds of contracts in dozens of districts across the country making money hand over fist encouraging districts to do things like privilege walks privilege Bingo um things that are not helping children but are actively hurting them a study by the network contagion Research Institute showed that Dei programming surprise surprise leads to more divisions in interpersonal relationships and so when we see districts spend money on this it actually might have been better use of literally Lighting on a fire because at least then children would be warm
▶ 2:19:44instead of hating each other uh Dr Cooper critics of the market based and accountability mechanis is Ms such as risk sharing and performance funding often argue that they would punish the off the off Open Access institutions or deter colleges from enrolling lowincome students uh who have a lower likelihood of success however the these critics don't seem to fit your testimony as it relates to accountability system proposed under the college cost reduction act uh what did you find in your analysis of the Bill's accountability
▶ 2:20:14system uh and do you believe the schools would ultimately reduce the share of low-income and disadvantaged students they they they enrolled as a result my analysis of the college cost reduction act excuse me found the exact opposite of what the critics allege uh we find that open access institutions community colleges Regional public four years would actually benefit from the college cost reduction act because the CCR rewards schools for enrolling uh low-income students and also serving them well getting them through making sure they graduate making sure that they have uh
▶ 2:20:44good earnings after graduation and that they're keeping their prices to a reasonable level okay thank you I'm going to uh I have a question Mr going to have done in writing and and sent to you I'll just say this uh I grew up at a time where education was our Gateway segregated Community we LED our country because parents and teachers understood their responsibility their kids let our country grow middle class men MRI CL from college men committed to marriage recent entrepreneurs in a segregated black community because education was put in place to help our kids nothing this institution
▶ 2:21:14we're going to change that and for those who don't get it yet let me suggest you go out and talk some parents who who really stuck in these areas that they can't get out of matter of fact I'll take it further how about taking your kids and letting them go into these failing schools and just see how how cool it is to have all this other stuff going on and Reading Writing and and and and understanding math is not a priority so we're going to make this change I'm excited about the process I look forward to working my colleagues across the the aisle kids should come first that's our top priorities thank you and our real
▶ 2:21:44bet M chair I thank the gentleman and recognize the passion that allows you to wear a Super Bowl ring and who should I bet on that no we won't now I recognize the gentleman from Texas new member of our committee glad to have you on it welcome Mr casar thank you chairman today we've heard from House Republicans on this committee support for Trump and musk's plan to abolish the Department of Education
▶ 2:22:14to slash critical programs that help students like Title One pel grants fin financial aid and programs that help kids learn all to pay for a tax break for Trump's billionaire buddies and for friends of Elon Musk today we've heard on committee alarming support from House Republicans for a national voucher scam that would pull money out of our public schools and hand it out in private contracts
▶ 2:22:45just to enrich their billionaire donors and their friends and if you can't believe it just take a look at what's happened here over the last couple of months musk has been using the federal government to get himself even more Rich he spent 277 million to elect Donald Trump and since the election he's billion richer
▶ 2:23:16how is making billionaires richer while taking money away from from our kids how is that good for Education how's that good for student outcomes how's that good for our community how is that good for our taxpayers it's good for No One But Trump's ego and for musk's pocketbook in places like Texas I've seen rural Republicans speak out against these voucher scamps because they know that pulling money out of our teachers and out of our public
▶ 2:23:46schools to hand over to unaccountable voucher schools is not empowering parents it's taking money away from parents and handing it to these companies for years unaccountable unregulated private schools have stolen public money through State voucher programs we know some of those voucher schools took public funds for kids that weren't even intended or even going to those schools weren't attending that school embezzling millions of dollars Elon Musk has used this
▶ 2:24:16kind of thing to his Advantage for years remember that he is a government contractor himself who is taking untold amounts of money from a federal government that he's saying he's trying to make more efficient for somebody but he's really trying to make it more efficient for himself so what happens to our students that we want to learn when they have Title One funds cut away from about 60% of our public schools because of this house Republican plan to give a billionaire tax break who fills that Gap is that our teachers
▶ 2:24:47spending their extra money that they barely have so that they can support our students is that local taxpayers that then have to pay to fill the Gap essentially backfilling the billionaire tax break that the Republican majority wants to pass are public schools that serve not just poor kids but workingclass and middle class kids going to have to close how does that improve learning for our students so we must continue to fight and I'm ready to fight on a bipartisan basis if we can see some bravery from some
▶ 2:25:17number of Rural Republicans just like I've seen in the last last few years in places like Texas who are willing to stand up to the Grift who are willing to stand up to the corruption are willing to actually stand up for our students we can improve our education system and we can do it without stripping it for parts and selling it to the highest bidder Trump musk and their minions want to expand these voucher scams not because they want to improve reading not because they want to improve
▶ 2:25:47math but because they want to improve their own wealth they want to improve their own standing in the stock market you know this uh Doge supposed agency to me is not the department of government efficiency it is the Department of billionaire corruption and so from politically motivated firings this last week to privatizing education to eliminating whole departments against the Constitution all so that private contractors can cash in Trump and musk are focused on
▶ 2:26:17one thing enriching themselves no matter what the cost to Americans and I would hope to hear some house Republican spine against this spineless corruption and unfortunately what I've been hearing in committee today Mr chairman is people either being silent or going along with it even though they know it's going to hurt our kids look at state after state after state where they've passed these voucher scams even Republicans that voted for you talk to them publicly and privately they say
▶ 2:26:48this did not help all it did was take money away from those schools that were asking for our help those people like us that are entrusted with these positions of power we should be using it responsibly and not just be going along with the folks that already have more wealth than anybody's ever had in the history of this planet thank you Mr chairman I you back I thank the gentleman and I recognize the chairman of the workforce protection subcommittee a new member of our committee as well Mr McKenzie from Pennsylvania
▶ 2:27:18well thank you Mr chairman for the opportunity to talk about the state of American Education today and I appreciate all of our testifiers sharing their experiences and their opinions with us uh it's an important conversation we're having because when we look at higher education for the years that I have been in public office uh both at the state level and here at the federal level now we have been touting and advocating choice for individuals in higher education we have said that higher education is not only
▶ 2:27:48about four-year colleges is but we have said that there are so many other good options out there available to students whether it's career in technical schools going into the military going straight into the workforce but maybe doing continuing education in that particular job lots of choice at the higher education level and what we have in America is we have the best system of higher education in the entire world because of that choice that is a key element of our higher education system but then when we talk about K through 12 education
▶ 2:28:19for some reason people want to oppose choice they want to block choice they want to hold people in positions where they are failing or they are not secure in their own school districts and I want to give the example of a family that came to me to talk about their young daughter who's in high school she's a lowincome student but she's in a very good school district by all accounts she should have been getting a good education there but ultimately she became the victim of bullying and I'm not just talking about light bullying or you know friendly
▶ 2:28:49jostling the hallways this was assault I saw the videos it was assault and the school meded out the proper punishment but ultimately the perpetrator ended up back in the same school and that student felt like she couldn't actually go to school and learn in a safe environment even though it was a good school everybody in the community knows that that is a great school district and she should be getting a good education so the parents they wanted to consider their different options they looked at online schooling and they said well that's not going to work for her that
▶ 2:29:19that school District did have an online option but they said we're two working parents we're not going to be able to be there and supervise her on a day in and day out basis she's not going to be able to learn in that kind of environment we don't feel like she would be safe at home so they looked at private schools the price was too expensive she didn't qualify for any scholarships and so that option was closed to them as well because they weren't wealthy they didn't have that choice so that choice was closed out to them finally there were charter schools in our community they looked at the charter schools
▶ 2:29:49but those seats were capped because people who wanted to oppose Choice said that she could not get an additional seat in that school and so ultimately she was stuck in this situation where she was in a great School District where almost all of the other students are learning well but she as a victim of bullying was stuck in an environment where she didn't feel safe she wasn't ultimately going to school she wasn't learning and she was going to be on a path to failing that school year because of opposition to choice so when
▶ 2:30:20people stand up here in opposition to choice I want to recognize that there are real victims when you oppose Choice there are people there are individuals in those classrooms who are the victims of your opposition to choice and so what we need to do is we need to talk about expanding choice for everybody so that every student has that opportunity to succeed it shouldn't just be for the wealthy it should be for every student regardless of your race regardless of your soci
▶ 2:30:50economic status we want that choice for everybody the public wants that choice if you look at public opinion polling overwhelmingly it is in favor of school choice that is the minority position to oppose choice in K through 12 education that is a losing position it is failing it is not only failing our public it is failing students like the one that I talked today so what I want to do is I want to raise up those voices of parents I want to
▶ 2:31:20raise up the voices of advocates for school choice those aren't just buzzwords there are real people and real lives attached to those movements and so when we stand here and oppose I want you to recognize that you're not just opposing Choice you're opposing that girl who is a victim of bullying you are opposing her getting a better education a better opportunity and a better life that's what you're opposing so Mr chairman I want to thank you for the opportunity to have this
▶ 2:31:50at the start of this session about the state of American Education we have lots of things that we can improve upon but there are so many good things going on across this country that everybody should have access to every single person should have those same opportunities not just the wealthy which is what's going on in this country right now but we can expand those opportunities to individuals that aren't wealthy and give them the same opportunities as The Wealthy by giving them ch choice
▶ 2:32:21so Mr chairman I will yield back to you but I just want to say thank you for this opportunity and I look forward to advancing legislation this session that will help every American student get the best opportunity and the best life that they can have thank you I thank the gentleman and now I recognize the chairman of the Early Childhood Elementary and secondary education subcommittee and a passionate educator himself uh Mr Kylie from California thank you Mr Mr chair uh we've
▶ 2:32:51just received the latest uh test scores for students across this country and they are absolutely uh alarming what we see is that the trend continues to be one uh of decline as you can see uh in this chart right here uh the bottom part of the graph shows from 2013 uh to the present uh average scores in Reading uh and in math fourth and eth grade and then the top of the chart is particularly interesting because that shows
▶ 2:33:22the level of spending uh the the gray curve there is actually inflation so you can see the spending uh line above that exceeds that it's this is a steady growth in spending in in real dollars that is uh proceeding in tandem with a steady decline in student achievement so when we're talking about the reforms that are going to be considered by uh the president uh as as well as by this committee uh
▶ 2:33:52I certainly welcome uh any arguments against them uh that seek to identify what the implications of those reforms might be but there are two responses that I think are wholly inadequate and are frankly the only responses we've really heard today uh from the other side of the deis number one is defending the status quo this is the status quo it is fail failure continuing decline
▶ 2:34:22a continual dimming of the prospects of America's young people and a diminished capacity of America to lead the world and the second response also inadequate is to say the solution is to just spend more money under the current system because as we can see there has been an inverse relationship between spending and student achievement so uh Mr Taylor you mentioned this earlier that simply spending more money uh doesn't necessarily help matters
▶ 2:34:52why do you believe that is that we see this actually inverse correlation between spending and student achievement well because we ultimately refer to the K through 16 system as the people who produce the product that we employers buy and we are increasingly seeing a lower quality product come out of the K through6 system so sad if we go back to the manufacturer the
▶ 2:35:22K through2 system ultimately manufacturers the parents but but when you get into the system and you ask them and they say well we're spending more money on it and we are telling them but you're not giving us what we need there's not enough volume and the people who do do come through often your product oftenly often does not have the skills and some of those are what we call you call S soft skills we call power skills they don't know how to interact with other employees they don't know how to work on team teams they don't how to show up to work on time and Starling statistic
▶ 2:35:53that 20% of of right now gen Z parents are showing up to the interviews with them like this is what's happening in the workplace so we're saying got it you're spending a lot of money but we are going to tell you on the other end of this that the product that you're receiving and delivering to us is suboptimal right and this is a characterization of the system as a whole uh however there are examples of schools and school systems uh that do quite well that have an excellent educational product uh and uh I'm very grateful that the chair has trusted me to lead the subcommittee that spans
▶ 2:36:23K12 education as well uh as prek and uh our overarching goal is to look is going to be to look at how can we make it so these examples of really good schools and good school systems uh become the norm rather than the exception and I think that there are principles that you can clearly identify with successful school systems uh they allow flexibility in terms of how schools are operated uh they demand accountability for actual outcomes and then they provide provide parents and families with choices now this of course is generally a characterization
▶ 2:36:53of how Charter Schools work uh and Charter Schools uh have been very successful in in many states across the country so some of the priorities that our committee are going to is going to focus on uh are number one uh the question of funding how do we reimagine the role of uh the federal government in education both when it comes to the bureaucracies that exist and how funding gets allocated uh number two is how can we support school choice in States and whole St States accountable for policies that run against uh school choice whether that be for Charter Schools
▶ 2:37:24or other forms of choice number three is how can we assist uh Educators across the country in incorporating the very powerful personalized learning tools that advances in technology have made available uh number four uh we is re-exam is examining uh how literacy is being taught across this country there are still way too many uh districts and states that don't properly teach literacy number five is expand the role of Career Education which I know is a major priority uh of the chair and number
▶ 2:37:54six is we need to look at the broken nature of special education funding which is clearly inadequate for many districts uh causing many districts to have to then dip into their general fund budget and isn't giving uh students with special needs and their families the support that they need so I think that we have a tremendous opportunity uh Mr chair to catalyze uh absolutely uh amazing education reform across the country uh that will go a long way towards helping millions of kids and better preparing our country for Global Leadership in the future I yield back I thank the gentlemen
▶ 2:38:24and we wish you well on those ideas and challenges I now uh have the privilege of recognizing the chairwoman emeritus of this committee Mrs Fox from North Carolina thank you thank you Mr chairman um and I thank our Witnesses for being today um
▶ 2:38:55an important topic that you're with uh Dr Cooper the parent plus program has been regarded by many as the most predatory program in the federal student loan portfolio like Grad Plus these loans have origination fees four times higher than the Stafford Loans provided the students in a 9% interest rate Which is higher than many private student loans today moreover Parent Plus Loans have no limit on how much parents
▶ 2:39:25can borrow can you discuss the harms of parent plus as well as who is actually benefiting from these programs thank you Dr Fox the parent plus program is a predatory Loan program there's simply no other way to describe it as you mentioned the interest rates exceed 9% the origination fees exceed uh 4% and what's more uh 20% % of the uh parents who are getting Parent Plus Loans foed on them by colleges have an expected family
▶ 2:39:55contribution of zero and what that means is that the federal government has determined that those parents can contribute nothing financially to their children's education yet that same federal government is turning around and handing them an effectively unlimited loan now the uh ones who really benefit from the parent plus program are the colleges uh out of 5,000 colleges uh in the United States just 500 of those use more than 80% of Parent Plus Loans issued every year well let me do a followup on it last Congress my colleagues on the
▶ 2:40:25other side of the aisle claim that the reforms included in the college cost reduction act which Sunset the parent plus program and reformed undergraduate lending to allow for more flexible borrowing limits would quote cut off access to federal aid for half of students from your expert perspective is this actually true I think that reflects a misunderstanding of what the college cost reduction act actually does only 10% of college students uh even use Parent PLUS dollars so it's impossible
▶ 2:40:55for for half of students to be affected by that and as a matter of fact the urban Institute found that over 90% of college students uh would be unaffected uh by the limits imposed in the college cost reduction act who would be affected are the schools that are simply charging outrageous amounts and for forcing the amount uh onto parents and I would say not allowing those schools to voice unlimited loans onto parents is a feature not a bug well a bit of hyperbole then there right uh Mr Taylor I know employers are thinking
▶ 2:41:25about student debt of their employees we've been trying to address that issue here I find it crazy that we allow people to borrow unlimited amounts through the PLUS Loan program and worse that we allow parents and even grandparents to borrow unlimited amounts when the federal government has determined they have no ability to pay them off as um Dr Cooper just said how do you feel about the PLUS Loan program and do you think it's fair we lend
▶ 2:41:56the money out in this manner Dr Fox great to see you we've been talking about this work a long time when it was at the thod Marshall College Fund because I think the Parent PLUS Loan to use the term predatory as that program currently uh works is an understatement we have seen I understand access and the importance particularly in The Graduate School of graduate plus type programs in wanting to help diversify our nation's Workforce the flip side is we know that on the employment side people show up with
▶ 2:42:26$150,000 of debt and an undergraduate degree in art or Communications or whatever it is they simply can't focus on their work because they are working two jobs it's not at all unusual to find someone who is under that kind of debt load from under undergraduate debt load and my gosh if they went to go get a master's degree and those students simply can't perform so they're working 40 hours with us 30 hours in the evening with Uber and then they come back to us and they are not their best we are therefore not getting
▶ 2:42:56the return on our investment we then fire them and it's a vicious cycle so it's not about on the front end well- intended I'm certain a policy but in the end what it has done has made it very difficult for employers to retain high quality uh people and to see the productivity and efficiency that we need thank you Miss Neely two weeks ago I introduced hr6 50 the family rights and responsibilities act this legislation affirms the fundamental right that parents have to direct the education
▶ 2:43:27and upbringing of their children before interfering in Parental educational choices this bill requires the federal government to approve a compelling government interest in your experience does the Department of Education know a child's needs better than parents do absolutely not parents know what's going on they know what their children's needs are what their children's education style are and so to the extent where parents are able to determine an education institution or values that comport with what they want as opposed to what a bureaucrat in Washington wants I think
▶ 2:43:57it's so much the better so thank you thank you Mr chairman I yeld back I thank the gentle lady now I recognize the uh conservative conscience from Wisconsin Mr guthman okay um a couple things first of all we're going to look at College because we can kind cover everything today uh at the University of Wisconsin 1993 there were 266,000 full-time employees okay uh uh 10 years later
▶ 2:44:28the number of full-time employees went up 26,000 to 33,000 but the number of Faculty uh fell from about 7,200 to 5,800 so there was a dramatic cut in the number of faculty and a dramatic increase in the number of what I'll call administrative staff something that was wasn't teaching uh can you comment on that to me at all I I believe that's a nationwide Trend and that's why I want to bring it up because we always talk about
▶ 2:44:58cost of Education it seems to me I mean I've talked to some people in the universities they try to give me honest answers but what's the deal on that somebody want to comment on this America's universities absolutely have a spending problem uh us universities and colleges spend more per student than any other large country in the developed world world and the University of Wisconsin is just one example okay well that's good uh then we'll give you another
▶ 2:45:28question um different countries start educating their uh students formally at different ages and uh in America they can be five years old can be six years old whatever but there's no question that some countries and I'm thinking countries like Finland or Singapore they start a formal education later and thereby have a higher percentage of the children with parents um do you know why we
▶ 2:45:58are or could you comment on this idea the American idea of at Cost um trying to get the children away from their parents earlier and earlier which I hear a lot of some advocates for as opposed to doing it in other countries where we have more confidence in the parents I have some comment on that is that an question yeah I just want to comment on that why why uh why maybe we don't try to since
▶ 2:46:28we're supposed to be a free country here why don't we emulate countries like Israel I'm sorry emulate countries like Finland and Singapore where you know the parents are primarily responsible for the children at a younger age well Studies have shown that Universal prek has boosted the ability of students to succeed in every context if you invest in prek you see the dividends returned at every other step of the education system the other countries
▶ 2:46:59that you refer to that enable parents to stay with their children longer also have social supports for those families they have a social safety net they have other income that they provide for families in order to sustain their economic wherewithal when they are unable to work because they are taking care of their children right I'm familiar with the Brookings institution study on on Head Start and it showed it wasn't that good do any of the other three of you have an opinion on getting kids in a formal
▶ 2:47:29setting at a younger age I think the devil is in the details and how we execute on some of these things the programs that we're seeing the pervasive poisonous ideology in K to2 schools if we start that even earlier at younger ages three four years old and we start to teach children to identify themselves um to identify themselves and others on the basis of race sex or other immutable care characteristics I think it really continues to exploit the power dynamic between an adult and a child and so to the extent where parents want to keep their children home I think Universal pre really removes that choice from parents and that's
▶ 2:47:59something that I oppose what I oppose though is that what we know is that we have a problem keeping women in the workforce they disproportionately are responsible for Early Child Care so to the extent that is an opportunity for a woman to go back to work who wants to go back to work and this isn't exclusively women but disproportionately women we can do that by allowing them to ensure they have high quality care for their children that is also education okay well thank you my conservative Witnesses um uh next question I have for
▶ 2:48:30you um I was talking to some school superintendant recently and they uh they felt one of the reasons that they were struggling in in school to provide a good education is a lot of the children come from difficult family backgrounds and they felt there was a difference in the children who had a stable two parent thing not that single parents do a fantastic job in in many cases fantastic job but nevertheless they felt
▶ 2:49:00overall uh they were able to do a better job with the kids with um both parents there could you could you comment on that is that we have a decline in America in the number of kids with both mom and dad at home uh it seems to hurt uh the out the outcomes of the education system is that true Ian row at the American Enterprise Institute has done ter terrific research on this on the success sequence of the that children obviously do better with two parent households
▶ 2:49:30and so to the extent where we see programs in school that discourage or that encourage the disruption I'll give you one more question gentleman's time has expired we'll have to get the question answered in writing well I'll let you finish the question then rather than jumping giving another finish finish your answer there are programs in school right now it's black lives matter at school week that um prioritize the disruption of the western prescribed nuclear family that would be a two- parent household it would be things like that and so when students are learning and being taught lessons like that um I think it's a negative thank you
▶ 2:50:01gentleman's time has expired uh and now I recognize the my friend and the ranking member um Mr Scott from Virginia for his questioning thank you thank you Mr chairman um Miss Neely should um parents always have the right to know things about their children even if there's credible evidence that the child will be endangered If the parents get that information education officials are mandatory reporters and so if a school official believes that a child is in danger they are obligated
▶ 2:50:31to report that to Child Protective Services the CPS process is honorous but there is due process built into it and it's not a school official making un lateral decision about a parent said should the parent always know a parent should know if unless a school has determined that they are harmful that they're at harm but that should refer to CPS not made unilaterally and should the parents um and and should the parents have veto power over the curriculum parents should have the choice to determine an educational setting that works for their child so if a parent decides
▶ 2:51:01that a public school is not providing the values or the quality of Education they want then they should be allowed to find another alternative Rich families can already poor families may not so so should um parents and public school have veto power over the curriculum parents should be have access to their culum so they can know if is a good fit for them or not that is a problem and accessing that information has been problematic from coast to coast so they shouldn't have veto power over I didn't say that I said they they should at least have awareness of what that is I was asking the question you didn't say that's
▶ 2:51:31right should they have veto power over the curriculum I have never seen or heard of a school district where a parent has tried to exercise veto power over what a curriculum is they would like access to it and they had they problems accessing that um is there evidence that um increases in vouchers and public in private education leads to segregation uh yes there there is evidence that the increase in voucher use voucher scams siphons money from the public educ education system and leaves
▶ 2:52:01some of the children who are most vulnerable without adequate resources and we know that those children are disproportionately black Latino lowincome and people with learning disabilities and has you have you I think you referred to studies that showed that increased diversity University in the school leads to increased student achievement yes there are studies that show that increases in diversity equity and inclusion create a more hospitable environment for
▶ 2:52:31learning uh that they increase higher uh graduation rates they improve critical thinking better problem solving ability increase student satisfaction and motivation improve self-confidence there are a multitude of benefits to having a more inclusive learning environment is there any evidence that public education is enhanced by school choice no there is not if you define school choice by the voucher scam programs that are being uh
▶ 2:53:01pedal school choice exists within our public education school system there are many opportunities for students to learn in different ways that can be accommodated by strengthening our public education school system without vouchers and when would the elimination of Title One doe to Equitable education opportunities it would be absolutely devastating uh there are many students who come from low-income families who rely on Title One funding who rely on school lunch programs free breakfast programs and other ways to
▶ 2:53:32nourish them so that they can nourish their minds during the school day and so what problems do we need to actually address in public education we need to address real problems not fictional or anecdotal issues that people are using to alarm parents across the country what's really plaguing our schools is inequitable funding there is not an argument that we necessarily need to pour more dollars we need to take dollars away from things like funding
▶ 2:54:02prisons where we fund prison populations at a rate of three times the amount that we fund per capital pupil Investments we need that's that's a re that's a historically recent phenomenon yes yes and and almost every person who spoke to today louing their education system is spending nearly three times the amount in on prisoners than they are on actual students we also know that uh racial segregation in our schools has actually
▶ 2:54:32increased in the past 30 years because of some of the reasons I mentioned earlier in my testimony let me ask Mr Taylor a question is there inherent value that cannot be instantaneously monetized in a liberal arts education absolutely yes and and how do you improve access to that opportunity or should we just leave that opportunity to those that can afford it no absolutely not in fact what we have found especially at some of our more
▶ 2:55:02premium and Premier employers many of the high-end professional search firms law firms Etc is that we find people with degrees in anthropology liberal music art are incredibly CR critical thinkers they learn to work with other with others and they're very Innovative and creative so we say lots of advantage to the traditional undergraduate education liberal education thank you Mr chairman I thank the gentleman and now I uh would like to recognize the ranking member for his
▶ 2:55:32closing remarks thank you Mr chairman I think we we we've heard a lot about school choice it's really a false Choice it just leads to separate and unequal schools I thought we' gotten away from that about um 60 70 years ago um we need to focus on education for for the vast majority of the students will be attending uh Public Public Schools um
▶ 2:56:02we need to also make sure that um um higher education that people have access to higher education I think everybody can agree that it's not affordable right now uh when people calculate as um uh Mr Cooper I think realized suggested that people are calculating that's not worth it well that's um the solution to that would be not tell people not to go solution that would be make it more affordable so that everybody
▶ 2:56:33can have that opportunity um and as um Mr Taylor mentioned whether it's technically a land with a particular job or not um because the liberal arts degree has inherent value there are job training programs we've got um programs in weoa we need to continue working on that and I think we're on the right track on that but um access to higher education is is going to be a challenge and we just can't
▶ 2:57:03allow uh the present situation for 30 40 years ago if any college virtually any college you wanted to go to you could afford to go to P Grant covered 80% of the cost of going to a state college and with a job and 15 hours a week during the school year you could work your way through college come out with no debt now as it's been suggested you work 40 hours a week and still can't come out of college without uh crushing debt so we have challenges
▶ 2:57:33in higher education uh but the um numbers and results of where we are in public 8 through 12 uh obviously um suggests that we need to make significant improvements but dismantling the public education system is not is not the right course so I thank you for holding the hearing and a y back I thank the gentlemen and I thank the the witnesses for what you've added
▶ 2:58:03to our hearing today because it wouldn't be hearing without Witnesses but credible Witnesses Who Um can speak from different viewpoints um and I think that's the same with this committee here I think I think I could safely assume that this committee we agree on the basics of education and Workforce we have to have an educated Workforce and that comes from good educational institutions that are achieving that are it
▶ 2:58:34I would think that the majority i' know for myself I don't oppose public education I don't want to decimate education um my first 13 years of education was in public education and u a mother who was a public school teacher and several aunts and a daughter-in-law and all in public education but I think we also ought to be able to agree that we have
▶ 2:59:04problems and those problems are opportunities and at this point in time um I think we can agree that we're not achieving the Excellence that we want to achieve can I say say um Ida funding isn't funded completely we know that department of education is responsible for that nape scores are going down anti-Semitism and
▶ 2:59:35has put up its ugly head on the on our higher education institutions some very elite higher education institutions as um you know after spending $1 trillion since the Inception of the Department of Education we're still failing so we have the opportunity to at least work towards Solutions and that will cause creative tension and some heat and some disagreement
▶ 3:00:05but I think it's important at this time that we jealously we jealously and that's a word I want to use uh Steward our article one authorities but that also includes not fearing outside influences up to and including the president of the United States and whoever he has as advisers and assistants to find out what he would conclude is what we need we can use that as a go to do even better
▶ 3:00:36whether we agree or disagree I happen to agree that this committee will work on finding Solutions within our article one authorities and powers and responsibilities and we better not let down on that student parents teachers are our number one priority in the educational system correct and then the workforce is what we've got to point our eyes toward
▶ 3:01:06whatever area of Workforce is they need to be the best educated and possible expressing our diversity best will be in in the context of Merit and excellence and how we achieve that in the end is important we have that opportunity on this committee to help determine where we go yes we want more choice on our side of the aisle and I'm not sure so sure
▶ 3:01:37that all of our colleagues on the other side would disagree with that it's what choice it is but we want more choice and we want the same choice that billionaires already have I think I'm right on that one we throw out things that this is going to give choice to billionaires no they have it already they have the money to pay for it and they do that and so we have to find a way to give choice to everybody as much as humanly possible
▶ 3:02:07but I believe we can agree on our desire to improve education opportunity for all and that's where I want us to focus from this first hearing on and uh I wait with expectation of how we can work together and how we can we we we we can work in a creative tension to force our ideas all of our ideas to be better in the outcome of it all so um I think a lot if not all has been said today and right
▶ 3:02:37now all have said it so if there are no uh further business to be conducted here and without objection the committee stands