Rep. Robert C. Scott

On April 11, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), providing schools with targeted federal dollars in order to offer equitable educational opportunities to all American children.

The act was intended to address “the special educational needs of children of low-income families and the impact that concentrations of low-income families have on the ability of local educational agencies to support adequate educational programs.”

The enactment of ESEA recognized that without federal intervention, children in communities with high concentrations of poverty never would be afforded equal educational opportunity. 

For the last 50 years, ESEA consistently has remained the single largest resource for schools and school districts that teach our most vulnerable students. ESEA was never intended to become a general education fund for all, but rather to provide states limited, supplemental funding that is targeted to schools and students that are left behind in what remains an unequal system.

But resources alone won’t improve outcomes for vulnerable students. ESEA also has been a vital tool in prompting action to improve the academic achievement of low-income and minority students, students with disabilities and students who do not speak English when institutions were slow to act.

Since 1965, our nation has made great strides in improving access to quality educational opportunities. The graduation rate is at an all-time high and achievement gaps in reading and math are narrowing.

Despite these gains, our work to ensure that every child in this nation has access to quality public education is far from done. For the first time in our nation’s history, more than half of the students attending our public schools are low-income.

If we are to keep the promise of equal opportunity for all, then we must redouble our efforts to level the public education playing field by ensuring that all students have both the resources to achieve academic excellence and the promise of action to intervene when their academic needs aren’t being met.

We know all too well that a quality education is even more vital in today’s society than it was a generation ago. ESEA desperately needs a balanced, responsible reauthorization to bring our education system into the 21st century.

I will continue to work with my Democratic and Republican colleagues in the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate to ensure that we produce a bill that protects the core principles of ESEA and prepares all students for lifelong success.

Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott represents Virginia’s 3rd District, which includes all or parts of Richmond, Henrico, Charles City, Petersburg, Prince George, Surry, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk and Portsmouth.