Voices for America’s Children Applauds Senate Committee Passage of Education Bill

WASHINGTON – Voices for America’s Children today applauded the Senate education committee’s bipartisan passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The legislation, which passed out of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee 15-7, is an important start in the process of reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act. The legislation will now be sent to the full Senate for consideration.

“Many children who start school behind will never catch up. We are especially pleased to see that the legislation fosters collaboration between early childhood programs and school systems to ensure that children start school ready to succeed,” Voices for America’s Children President and CEO Bill Bentley said. “Our members have been hosting education meetings nationwide for community leaders and policymakers, and the message has been clear: Americans want children to receive first-rate educations and graduate high school ready for college or a career.”

As the legislative process moves forward we encourage the full Senate to continue working in a bipartisan manner in the best interests of children.  As deliberations continue we hope that the following priorities are maintained:

• Intentional alignment between early care and education programs and the public K-12 education system.
• Accountability for vulnerable populations: High standards, assessments, and disaggregated achievement data for all kids, especially low-income children, children of color, children learning English and children with disabilities.
• Continued efforts to reduce achievement gaps.
• Focus on interventions to improve graduation rates and reduce dropout.

The Voices network strongly urges the full Senate to reauthorize a federal education bill that provides adequate funding that incentivizes states to:

• Ensure that all children enter to school ready to learn;
• Promote high academic standards and educational attainment for all students;
• Continue to reduce the achievement gaps; and
• Increase the number of children who graduate from high school ready for college and / or a career.

Voices for America’s Children (Voices) members are conducting education town halls and community meetings in 13 states from Arizona to New York.  Today the Children’s Campaign in Florida will meet with community leaders and Representative Steve Southerland II (R-FL) in Panama City and on October 24 the Children’s Trust of South Carolina will host a meeting in Greenville.

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As the nation’s largest network of multi-issue child advocacy organizations, Voices for America’s Children (Voices) has been on the forefront of every major child policy victory for the past quarter-century. With 62 members nationwide, Voices speaks up for kids, and mobilizes and advocates for public policies to improve the lives of all children, especially those most vulnerable, throughout the United States. Visit us at www.voices.org.

Voices is a founding member of the Children’s Leadership Council, a coalition of more than 50 leading national policy and advocacy organizations. www.childrensleadershipcouncil.com.