During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) spoke to Education Secretary Linda McMahon on expanding school choice.
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00:00Thank you so much for being here today.
00:01I want to start with talking about HBCUs.
00:04So Alabama has more HBCUs than any other state in the nation.
00:08We are proud of the work that is done on those campuses.
00:12We know that it helps strengthen student experience, our workforce, our communities, and our future.
00:18So if you look across coast to coast, there are about 285,000 individuals that are attending
00:23HBCUs, and the Strengthening HBCU program has about 300 million annually allocated to supporting
00:31the operations and student services and academic infrastructure.
00:35So can you walk us through, in the President's FY26 budget, kind of what you have put in place
00:41to continuing to make sure that our HBCUs can thrive and provide that educational opportunity
00:47for so many students that otherwise wouldn't have it?
00:49Well, in a word, or in a very short sentence, we are continuing the educational support and
00:56the budget support that have been for HBCUs.
00:58It's one of the promises that the President made, and that's exactly what we're going to
01:02continue to do.
01:03Good.
01:04And will you make sure that there are guardrails put up to whether it's, you know, assistance
01:08for grant administration or technical assistance, that those remain in place?
01:12Yes.
01:13Excellent.
01:15That when this department was founded, you said since 1980, we've had about, spent about
01:21$3 trillion, but yet student scores have not improved.
01:25One of the reasons I ran for the Senate is I want the unseen to be seen.
01:29I want to close the gap between the have and have nots.
01:32And that is why I am so excited and thrilled about your support and commitment to educational
01:37freedom and opportunity.
01:39When you look at a state like Alabama, we have the Alabama Accountability Act.
01:43And we are working to help families better have access to educational opportunities through
01:49scholarship, tuition, and tax credits.
01:52But we know that the demand is, it far outpaces the actual supply.
01:57So in your FY26 budget for charter school programs, you've taken it to $500 million, which
02:03is a $60 million increase.
02:06My question to you is, can you walk us through how these funds will be used to expand options,
02:13particularly in rural communities and underserved communities?
02:16So when we work to close that gap, these parents have an opportunity and a choice for their child.
02:22Well, thank you very much, Senator Brett.
02:25It's very important to the president that all students have access, equal access to a quality
02:32education.
02:33That's right.
02:34And one of the things that he has said time after time is that no child should be trapped
02:38in a failing school, which is one of the reasons why he wanted to expand the amount of dollars
02:43for charter schools.
02:45And I have visited several charter schools and public schools, too, already around the country.
02:50We can see how innovative that they are being, how creative they are being, you know, with
02:54their curriculum, with their content.
02:55They are, in most instances, they are outperforming the public schools in that area, in which when
03:01I talked to Governor Reynolds, I said, you know, there's always concern, you have charter
03:05schools or freedom of, you know, or choice for schools that public schools will go down.
03:09And she said, it's just the opposite in Iowa.
03:12She said, our public school levels are coming up.
03:14The competition is really great.
03:16Parents are more involved, and that's one of the requirements.
03:19Parents are understanding more that they need to be part of the school board or help to elect
03:23the school board members.
03:24They're attending the meetings, more conferences with teachers, understanding what it is that
03:29their child needs in their community to be successful to go on for their education.
03:34Absolutely.
03:34And I am a public school kid, and I am really proud of it.
03:37Don't mind.
03:37I want to make sure that where we have children who are trapped in a failing school, that they
03:43have an option and an opportunity and a pathway forward, because education is the great equalizer.
03:49As our colleague, Tim Scott, always says, it is the closest thing to magic that we have
03:53in America.
03:54So thank you so much for continuing to be committed to making sure that every child has that opportunity
04:00to thrive and grow.
04:01Last, in my last minute, I want to talk to you a little bit about literacy.
04:05Thank you for your commitment to that.
04:07I want to understand kind of what your vision is, and I also want to add Alabama to the list
04:11of success stories.
04:13So we passed in 2019 the Alabama Literacy Act.
04:17Since that time period, we have seen significant growth in our numbers and proficiency amongst
04:24our third and fourth graders.
04:26For instance, Alabama's national ranking for fourth grade reading improved from 49th in
04:31the nation.
04:32When we actually, the year that we put this into place, five years later, we've moved up
04:36to 34.
04:37We believe with intentionality and evidence-based reading instruction and early intervention,
04:43you can make a difference that changes a child's pathway forward and opportunity that will be
04:49in front of them.
04:50So just want to talk a little bit about that.
04:52If you can tell me what your plans are there and how we can continue to support great work
04:57that's being done in states like Alabama.
04:59Well, evidence-based literacy is number one on my priority list, and I want to make sure
05:08that we are providing the information and the tools to states for them to see the success
05:13that other states have had.
05:15I mean, other governors, just like you said, in Alabama have put in place kind of a return
05:19to basics or that science of reading, and they have seen incredible results, and that's
05:24what I want to continue to see across the country.
05:26We saw a nine-point tick up between 2023 and 2024.
05:32Obviously, we have a ways to go, and we're going to continue to be committed to that,
05:37but thank you for your commitment to making sure these programs thrive.
05:42Senator Shaheen.
05:43Thank you, Madam Chair.
05:44Welcome.