Academic Partnerships Lead us to Success (A-PLUS) Act
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As students, teachers and parents prepare for another school year, I’d like to take this opportunity to update you on a few of the things I am working on to restore local control and prevent federal intrusion into our classrooms.
Rep. Babin answers questions from students at Buna High School about some of the important issues facing our nation. |
As someone who has served on a local school board, I understand the importance of leaving education decisions in the hands of parents, teachers, principals and local school boards. That’s why I cosponsored and strongly support the A-PLUS Act (H.R. 3421), which restores state and local control of education by allowing states to completely opt out of federal education programs. As the federal government has gotten more involved in local school decisions, education has become too focused on checking boxes and teaching to the test. We need to get back to the basics of education. Under H.R. 3421, states would receive federal education funding in the form of block grants for the programs a state chooses to consolidate. This would eliminate the federal government’s involvement in our local schools returning power to state and local elected officials. This legislation would empower states to create innovative, student-centered education solutions that help students succeed.
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Ending Common Core
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Despite 40 years of increased federal involvement in our local schools, federal regulators are essentially coercing local schools to adopt national “Common Core” education standards. I’m working to end it and defund it. Bureaucrats 1,400 miles away in Washington’s U.S. Department of Educations fail to understand that the American people want less Washington intervention – not more. I trust parents, teachers and local school boards to decide what’s best for their students, not a bureaucrat in Washington. During consideration of H.R. 5, the Student Success Act, I voted for the Zeldin Amendment, which guarantees states the right to withdraw from this broken, one-size-fits-all approach whether that is the Common Core standards or any other federal standards.
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| Repealing No Child Left Behind (NCLB) |
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Last month, I voted for House passage of the Student Success Act (H.R. 5), which takes much-needed steps to repeal NCLB and return power and authority to where it belongs – with parents. This important legislation reduces the federal footprint in education by eliminating dozens of ineffective and duplicative programs, preventing the U.S. Department of Education from coercing states to adopt federal mandates - while also empowering parents with the information and tools they need to hold schools accountable. Importantly, it also cuts the number of federal employees at the Department of Education, which I view as a first step toward eliminating this failed bureaucratic institution. Local schools will be better protected when there are fewer federal bureaucrats dreaming up new mandates for local schools.
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Expanding School Choice
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Many low-income students, particularly in urban areas, benefit from school choice initiatives because it allows them to leave a failing school and attend a different school that they otherwise couldn’t afford. I believe that school choice initiatives should be available to children who are trapped in bad schools. That’s why I have voted for and supported efforts to create more school choice options through expanding magnet, charter, and public schools. We should also expand private school opportunities for those trapped in failing schools. It is wrong to deny students the opportunity to leave a failing school.
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| Should Common Core be Rejected? |
Do you support my efforts to end Common Core and prevent federal intrusion into our classrooms?
(__) Yes
(__) No
(__) Need more information
To take the survey, click here.
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