Statement of Senator James Rhoades at Conclusion of NCLB Hearing

HARRISBURG – Senate Education Committee chairman James J. Rhoades (R-29) issued the following statement today, at the conclusion of the committee's second public hearing on the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law.

Rhoades pointed out that, even though federal funding to support NCLB has declined, the Commonwealth has invested $845 million in new state funding for the accountability block grant program and the education assistance tutoring program. Both are programs that the General Assembly created to help schools and students meet the NCLB goals.

"We all support the goals of No Child Left Behind, ensuring that all students meet high standards of academic achievement.

"But we can't just keep enacting new programs and initiatives that distract our schools from their primary mission, teaching our boys and girls.

"In Pennsylvania, we need to fund programs that work and stop spending the taxpayers' money on programs that sound good, but that have little impact on student achievement.

"We can't afford to waste money or time. We have to fund programs that work so that our schools can meet the NCLB goals and have the tools to do the job."