Senator Marshall Questions Witnesses at Senate HELP Hearing
Washington – On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-Kansas), questioned witnesses including Vice President of Oakmont Education, Cris Gulacy-Worrel, Chairman of Step Up for Students, John F. Kirtley, and President of the Arizona Education Association, Marisol Garcia at the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Hearing focused on empowering families through educational choice in America.
In light of National School Choice Week, Senator Marshall drew attention to the relief Americans are starting to see from skyrocketing education costs and access to new educational opportunities thanks to Republicans’ Work Families Tax Cuts, including:
- Expanded 529 Savings Accounts: Annual contribution limits doubled from $10,000 to $20,000, covering a broader range of expenses, including K-12 tuition, workforce training, vocational programs, professional licensing, and continuing education.
- Increased Pell Grant Funding: $10.5 billion in additional funding and expanded eligibility for workforce training programs.
- New School Choice Tax Credit: Beginning in 2027, taxpayers making contributions to Scholarship Granting Organizations for low- and middle-income students will be eligible for a dollar-for-dollar tax credit of up to $1,700.
- Student Loan Reforms: Simplified repayment plans, permanent extension of the employer student loan repayment exclusion up to $5,250 annually, and protections to prevent federal loans from subsidizing programs that leave students worse off.
Click HERE or on the image above to watch Senator Marshall’s full exchange.
Highlights from the hearing include:
Senator Marshall: “Coach, thank you so much, and welcome to our witnesses. Today, I’m happy to be here to celebrate School Choice Week.”
“I think coach will appreciate this story. My college track coach told me the first day of track practice, everyone’s bragging how great of athletes they were in high school. And he said, don’t tell me, show me. And I think the Republican Party has shown our support for this school choice in the Working Family Tax Cuts Bill. We have a $1,700 tax credit for scholarships for school choice. We’ve increased the flexibility with the 529 education funds as well. Those are two, examples of Republicans doing what we said we were going to do, putting our money where our mouth is as well.”
“And Coach, I couldn’t agree more than your philosophy of coaching and teaching. You would think we were raised by the same parents that we were brothers in so many ways, and I assume this, but I was educated in a public school system. My wife a public school system. Our kids went to a public school system. They went to public universities, and we were well prepared.”
“And I kind of drug my feet on school choice. I was concerned. How will school choice impact urban America, the inner city? How is it going to impact rural America as well, but I’m afraid our public school system has let us down. The education that my youngest child got versus my old changed. The same school system, they went to the same grade school, the same middle school, the same high school, and it just changed.”
“And I can’t say enough thank you to the dedicated teachers and coaches in public school, and the teachers and coaches that my kids had. I mean, these are A++ people. I got to deliver their babies. I got to get to know them. Coach their kids in Little League. They coach my kids in Little League, and then on through varsity sports. So I want the public school system to survive and coach. I look forward to you setting an example in Alabama that other states can follow as you break down those barriers, as we try to figure out, you know, I think in middle school at least, that kids should be being shown there’s great value in the tech skills. That the jobs we have in Kansas right now that are paying more than a four-year degree job would be whether it’s in plumbing or electrician, and all those types of things. Welding, we have the world champion welder from southeast Kansas.”
“I’m going to challenge Coach on that one as well, world champion welder. But here we are, and school choice is upon us, and we need it. They need the competition.”
“So Miss Gulacy-Worrel, I guess my first question is, I’m still worried, really worried, about rural America, that if some of these students are doing school choice, how do the public schools survive? And I’m looking for that win, opportunity.”
Mrs. Gulacy-Worrel: “Senator, thank you for the question. I think that if we want to really rise to the occasion that we’re speaking of, and we want world class opportunities for our American students, including work based learning, career technical education for our rural students, as well as for our students in our urban cores, we have to address funding and making sure that the funding is available for our rural districts to potentially come together and form consortiums to offer the world class career technical education opportunities that they have.
“Just because a choice comes into a rural community doesn’t mean that the rural schools close. It should be a part of that continuum. And if we want to make sure that the opportunities are even for all students, we really do need to evaluate and make sure that the funding opportunities are fair and equal to support students in rural America. Because if you take a school and say, this school is going to offer all career tech. This school’s not you could have all students want to go to the other school with the career tech, but there needs to be a continuum of cooperative cooperation when you’re bringing something new into those communities. We work in rural communities as well as urban communities, and we’ve not seen a district shut down because of that.”
Senator Marshall: “Mr. Kirtley, would you add anything and maybe address it more from the inner-city area, if that’s some of your expertise. I mean, how would you expect the public school system to respond to the competition from school choice?”
Mr. Kirtley: “Well, I have personal experience, which I’m happy to talk about. It was a long time ago, but I graduated from Fort Lauderdale High School, class of 81’. It was an inner-city high school. Great mix of kids, and I had a great education there. But what I didn’t realize was a lot of my teammates didn’t graduate. They actually had what are called certificates of completion when they walked across the graduation stage. Eight, not a diploma. And when Governor Bush, Jeb Bush, instituted his reforms, when he was elected governor in 99’, my high school was labeled an F, a failure. But that wasn’t the end of the story. Because of the competition, because of this dedication of the public educators in Broward County, they turned Fort Lauderdale high school into a school of choice. It’s now a magnet school. It’s a pre-law magnet, and they have a national champion debate team, and they’re now in a school, and I’m happy to say they still play football too.”
Senator Marshall: “Yeah, it’s always the people that make the difference. So, my time’s expired again. Thank you. Education is the backbone of America. Education is what allows us all to achieve our American dream. I’m a first-generation college student and got to live my American dream out because of the great teachers and coaches, and family that I had helped me with a with a very generous public education, and we want, you know, share that same goal. We want every student, every child in America, have a great education. Thanks so much, Coach.”
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Contact: Payton Fuller
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