U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) issued a statement of approval after the Senate passed his Pay for Success amendment last week.
“With Pay for Success, state and local leaders will be empowered to fund initiatives that deliver real results for their communities and schools,” Hatch, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said. “Rather than being limited by what federal bureaucrats at the Department of Education think best, funding should be more connected to local innovation and successful outcomes.”
Essentially, Pay for Success is a funding approach in which government pays for services if a program achieves results — allowing students to access programs that actually work — and eliminates those that don’t. Pay for Success funnels critical education funding toward programs that measurably improve student outcomes. In many instances, private investment provides the upfront financing, taking on the risk that an intervention may not succeed, but recovering the investment dollars if it does. Hatch’s amendment would permit states, if they choose, to utilize Pay for Success initiatives, to carry out strategies to improve the quality and coordination of a local system of voluntary early learning and care services.
“I’m pleased the Senate has voted to approve my amendment, which builds on tremendous success leaders have already seen in my home state of Utah,” Hatch said.
Hatch has represented the state of Utah in the U.S. Senate since 1976. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1934, Hatch previously served as chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee from 1981 to 1987. Hatch was educated at Brigham Young University and the University of Pittsburgh Law School. Hatch serves on the Finance Committee (chairman); Judiciary Committee; Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; Special Committee on Aging; and Joint Committee on Taxation.