2015: Schweikert Voted For The Student Success Act, Which Reauthorized The Elementary And Secondary Education Act Of 1965, That Allowed Parents To Opt Their Children Out Of Required Elementary and Secondary School Education Assessments. In June 2015, Schweikert voted for the Student Success Act which reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and reformed the No Child Left Behind law. According to the Washington Post, "But in an important departure from current law, the bill includes an amendment that allows parents to opt their children out of standardized tests without putting school districts at risk of federal sanctions." The bill was known as the Student Success Act. The vote was on the passage of the bill. The House passed the bill 218 to 213. The Senate passed a similar measure called the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015. [House Vote 423, 7/8/15; Congressional Quarterly, 7/13/15; Congressional Actions, H.R. 5; Congressional Actions, S. 1177; Washington Post, 7/8/15]
Opt-Out Measure Would, According To Democrats, "Gut The Law's Civil Rights Protections. " According to the Washington Post, "Democrats said the opt-out measure would gut the law's civil rights protections, giving administrators a loophole to discourage low performers to stay home on exam day, something that could skew performance results and hide racial or socioeconomic inequities. Current law requires school districts to ensure that 95 percent of children take the exams." [Washington Post, 7/8/15]
Some Senate Republican Presidential Hopefuls Encouraged Students To Opt-Out Of Standardized Testing; Sens. Paul And Cruz Concentrated On Opt-Out Issues During Debate Of Senate's Bill. According to Politico, "Republican presidential hopefuls in the Senate have joined the fast-growing movement encouraging students to opt out of the standardized tests that have become a part of everyday life in American schools. [...] Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) concentrated on opt-out issues last week during their chamber's debate on No Child Left Behind, rejecting the standardized tests mandated by the George W. Bush-era law. Cruz, Paul and others offered amendments designed to ensure the government keeps its hands off of students' opt-out rights." [Politico, 7/20/15]
The National Education Association Supported The Amendment, But Not The Bill As Passed. According to the National Education Association, "[T]he House passed (217-213) the NEA opposed Student Success Act of 2015 (H.R. 5) today. [...] As you may recall, the House marked up H.R. 5 in the spring but delayed the final vote on the bill. Wednesday that process will begin again, with additional amendments including an NEA supported amendment from Rep. Salmon (R-AZ) which would protect schools from being punished by the 95% participation rule when parents choose to opt their children out of standardized tests." [National Education Association, 7/8/15] ]
Democrats Opposed The Bill Because It "Would Turn Back The Clock" And The White House Has Threatened To Veto. According to Congressional Quarterly, "Democrats, meanwhile, objected to the thrust of the bill, saying a lack of accountability to underserved students and struggling schools would 'turn back the clock' on educational progress. [...] The White House has threatened to Veto the measure." [Congressional Quarterly, 7/13/15]
2015: Schweikert Voted For An Amendment That Allowed Parents To Opt Their Children Out Of Required Elementary and Secondary School Education Assessments. In July 2015, Schweikert voted for an amendment that would allow parents to opt a student out of the required assessments for any reason. Students whose parents opt them out would not be included when calculating the participation rate in the assessment. According to Congressional Quarterly, "Salmon, R-Ariz., amendment that would allow parents to opt a student out of the required assessments for any reason. Students whose parents opt them out would not be included when calculating the participation rate in the assessment." The underlying measure was the Student Success Act, which reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary School Education Act. The vote was on the amendment. The House of Representative adopted the amendment 252 to 178 and the House later passed the underlying bill, but died in the Senate. A separate bill, the Every Child Succeeds Act became law, which "allows parents to opt a student out of required assessments for any reason." [House Vote 420, 7/8/15; Congressional Quarterly, 7/8/15; Congressional Quarterly, 7/14/15; Congressional Quarterly, 12/1/15; Congressional Actions, S. 1177; Congressional Actions, H. Amdt. 640; Congressional Actions, H.R. 5]
Rep. Salmon (R-AZ): "My Amendment Is Very, Very Simple. It Would Allow Any Parent To Opt His Child Out Of High-Stakes Testing, And It Would Protect Schools From Being Punished By The Federal Department Of Education If Parents Opted To Take Their Children Out Of These Tests." In a floor speech, Rep. Salmon said, "I first want to thank Chairman Kline and Representative Rokita of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce for working with me on this important amendment, which is to ensure that parents have more authority and power over their children's educations. My amendment is very, very simple. It would allow any parent to opt his child out of high-stakes testing, and it would protect schools from being punished by the Federal Department of Education if parents opted to take their children out of these tests. Since the 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, called No Child Left Behind, the Federal Government has placed increasing importance on academic assessments in K-12 education. Assessments are important and even necessary to understand and measure a child's academic progress. However, academic assessments have become an overutilized metric to evaluate everything from the quality of a teacher to the strength of a particular program. Because of this frenzied obsession with high-stakes testing, more and more time is being usurped from actual classroom learning. [...] My amendment would ease a school's fear of penalties by directing that opted-out students not be counted among the 95 percent participation requirement while giving parents due power over their children's educations." [Congressional Record, 7/8/15]
Rep. Scott (D-VA): "If You Are Not Measuring The Achievement Gap, You Can't Deal With The Achievement Gap." In a floor speech, Rep. Scott said, "If you are not measuring the achievement gap, you can't deal with the achievement gap. We need to make sure that enough students test, which is 95 percent, so that we can actually identify the achievement gaps and do something about it. Parents do have the right to opt out, but when the dust settles, at least 95 percent will have had to have taken the test. We have situations now in which, if you eliminate that requirement, school systems can encourage people not to show up on testing day. They can have field trips on testing day and can manipulate the data so that, if only half of the students are taking the test and if you make sure that it is the good students who are taking the test, your scores all of a sudden will go up. The requirement that 95 percent get tested means you have meaningful data so that you can find out what the problem is, and then you can deal with it." [Congressional Record, 7/8/15]
Some Senate Republican Presidential Hopefuls Encouraged Students To Opt-Out Of Standardized Testing; Sens. Paul And Cruz Concentrated On Opt-Out Issues During Debate Of Senate's Bill. According to Politico, "Republican presidential hopefuls in the Senate have joined the fast-growing movement encouraging students to opt out of the standardized tests that have become a part of everyday life in American schools. [...] Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) concentrated on opt-out issues last week during their chamber's debate on No Child Left Behind, rejecting the standardized tests mandated by the George W. Bush-era law. Cruz, Paul and others offered amendments designed to ensure the government keeps its hands off of students' opt-out rights." [Politico, 7/20/15]
The National Education Association Supported The Amendment. According to the National Education Association, "As you may recall, the House marked up H.R. 5 in the spring but delayed the final vote on the bill. Wednesday that process will begin again, with additional amendments including an NEA supported amendment from Rep. Salmon (R-AZ) which would protect schools from being punished by the 95% participation rule when parents choose to opt their children out of standardized tests." [National Education Association, 7/8/15] ]