Henry A - Business Roundtable

7 downloads 268 Views 308KB Size Report
Nov 12, 2015 - that business leaders support, but more needs to be done to deliver a meaningful education to our ... AT&
300 New Jersey Avenue, NW Suite 800 Washington, DC 20001

Telephone 202.872.1260 Facsimile 202.466.3509 Website brt.org

November 12, 2015

Randall Stephenson AT&T Inc. Chairman Ursula M. Burns Xerox Corporation Vice Chair David M. Cote Honeywell Vice Chair Andrew N. Liveris The Dow Chemical Company Vice Chair John Engler President Jessica Boulanger Senior Vice President Marian Hopkins Senior Vice President William C. Miller, Jr. Senior Vice President LeAnne Redick Wilson Senior Vice President

The Honorable Paul Ryan Speaker U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Mitch McConnell Majority Leader U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Minority Leader U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Harry Reid Minority Leader U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510

Dear Leaders: Under your leadership, Congress has a historic opportunity to improve educational outcomes for generations of American students by reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). On behalf of Business Roundtable, I am writing to urge you to appoint conferees as soon as possible. Further, we would ask that you to encourage the conferees to ensure the final bill holds America’s schools to the highest standards. A prepared workforce is essential for U.S. employers of all sizes. This is how we guarantee a brighter future for our workers and their families. It all starts with a solid educational foundation. The K-12 education programs the bill would reauthorize provide states, districts, schools and teachers with the resources they need to make sure all students graduate from high school ready to succeed in college or a career. Both the Senate and House versions of ESEA legislation contain elements that business leaders support, but more needs to be done to deliver a meaningful education to our students. We ask you to encourage the conferees to strengthen ESEA’s accountability provisions. Schools should be required to implement support strategies in cases where students are not meeting state-defined achievement goals driven by objective academic indicators, such as state-developed assessment results and graduation rates. We ask students to be accountable for their progress. We should ask the same of their schools.

November 12, 2015 Page 2

We further ask you to encourage conferees to ensure all states meet annual testing requirements in order to receive federal funds. Clear measures of student progress give us the best chance to make sure that schools are achieving their mission. States that fail to meet the requirement that they test 95 percent of their students annually should not be eligible to receive federal funding, including those states that allow parents to opt their children out of annual testing. A strong K-12 education is important to the success of all students in our nation and, in turn, to the future of the American economy. ESEA offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make that future as bright as possible. Let’s make the most of this moment.

Sincerely,

John Engler JE/dl