Reps. Roy and Greene introduce amendment to put kids and families first in education spending

Thursday evening, Rep Chip Roy (TX-21), along with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14) introduced the Funds Follow Students Amendment to the Democrats massive COVID spending bill.

The amendment would allow federal education dollars to follow students, rather than being tied down solely to government-run public schools.

The Funds Follow Students Amendment:

• Allows federal funds for K-12 education to follow the eligible child, regardless of whether the child is in public school, private school, or homeschool.
• Allows certain funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to follow a child, whether learning in person or remotely, to the public school, private school, or homeschool of choice.
• Can be used on a range of needs including, tuition, educational materials such as curriculum or technological materials, tutoring, extracurricular activities, and educational therapies for students with disabilities.

"The pandemic has made it clear, our government run school system is dominated by teachers and education unions that care more about their own power than America's children. It's as unacceptable as it is obvious," said Congressman Roy. "The Democrat coronavirus bill gives $128 billion to the very people keeping schools closed – despite the science — while doing nothing to get kids back in school. Our amendment will help ensure that our public education system puts American families first by giving parents — not Washington — control over how their children's education dollars are spent. It's time we restored power over education to where it belongs: parents and families, not bureaucrats and union bosses."

Congresswoman Greene issued the following statement about the amendment on Thursday:

"It's past time to reopen America's schools and STOP the insane policies that are destroying the development of our nation's kids.

This amendment would enact the SCHOOL ACT, introduced by Rep. Chip Roy, to ensure that your hard-earned tax dollars spent in the Blue State Bailout are spent this year and the money goes to parents and students, not teacher's unions and schools that refuse to reopen.

Schools that refuse to reopen should receive no federal funding! This should not be a political issue. Our children need to go back to school. The Democrats need to stop holding our children hostage.

Congress must put our children first!"

Text of the amendment is available here.