Gentles’s full testimony can be found HERE once the hearing begins.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) today announced Virginia (Ginny) Gentles, director of the Education Freedom Center at IWF, will testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce at 10:15 a.m. ET tomorrow, February 8, on the state of American education. This will be the first hearing of the 118th Congress held by the Education and the Workforce Committee.
The hearing, entitled, “American Education in Crisis,” will examine the state of K-12 and postsecondary education. Ginny’s focus will be on K-12 learning, including academic decline, the worsening school climate, harmful ideological indoctrination in school, and power imbalance between unions and bureaucrats and parents and students.
“Our education system should work for students — not the other way around,” said House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx. “Our K-12 education system should promote education freedom, protect parental rights, and provide concrete solutions to address learning loss. Sadly, it’s not just our K-12 system that is failing families. Colleges and universities aren’t being held accountable for poor outcomes, staggeringly high prices, and failing to prepare students for the workforce.”
Gentles will testify alongside other majority witnesses: Dr. Monty Sullivan, president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System; and Mr. Scott Pulsipher, president of Western Governors University. Mr. Jared Polis, Colorado governor, will testify as the minority witness.
In her testimony, Gentles writes, in part, “As legislators who regularly hear from distraught parents, you are all familiar with the bad news. After years of instruction disrupted by cruel COVID-era closures and masking policies and undermined by divisive ideologies, K-12 education in the United States is in crisis…Parents want and deserve power over their children’s education, but education bureaucrats and unions hold all the power in areas without education freedom…Parents, students, and educators need legislators to be more than just caring and courageous.”
Specific areas of concern that Gentles will focus on in her testimony include:
- Alarming learning loss fueled by the potent combination of COVID-era closures and the prioritization of indoctrination over academic instruction;
- Pervasive discipline and mental health issues that are creating an unsafe environment for students and teachers;
- School systems determined to view parents as the enemy; and
- Powerful teachers’ unions and education bureaucracies that reject transparency and accountability, yet relentlessly demand more funding.
During her testimony, Gentles will highlight the need for Congress to:
- Hold the K-12 cartel accountable for the learning loss crisis exacerbated by COVID-era policies;
- Determine how states and districts spent the $190 billion in “emergency” federal funding;
- Ensure that the new mental health funding truly helps students, rather than lines the pockets of activists; and
- Pass legislation that provides families with educational transparency and freedom.
Details:
WHAT: The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce “American Education in Crisis” Hearing
WHEN: Wednesday, February 8, 2023 at 10:15 AM
WHERE: 2141 Rayburn
WHY: Members of the House Education and the Workforce Committee will hear from experts on the state of America’s education and solutions to this crisis.
Media Inquiries: [email protected]
Gentles’s full testimony can also be found HERE once the hearing begins.