U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Lesko started the week with the sound of school bells.

On Monday, she began the day at Peoria Traditional School, a public school part of the Peoria Unified School District. Congresswoman Lesko met students outside to recite the Pledge of Allegiance before heading inside to observe reading and math classrooms.

This week, Congresswoman Lesko visited eight schools in three days. The public school visits spanned the North and West Valleys, from Goodyear to Anthem and Glendale to Surprise. Students ranged in grade levels from Kindergarten to adult education.

Back in August, as Arizona’s students headed back to the classroom for a new school year, Congresswoman Lesko visited three other schools in the 8^th Congressional District for a total of 11 school visits since being sworn into Congress in early May.

After a stop in Peoria, Congresswoman Lesko headed to Surprise to tour Highland Prep before returning to Peoria to visit Sonoran Science Academy. Both Highland Prep and Sonoran Science Academy have a strong emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. In Congress, Lesko serves on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, which has jurisdiction over STEM education legislation.

On Tuesday, she observed second and fourth grade classrooms at Archway Trivium East in Goodyear. Prior to that, she toured BASIS Peoria, where she read Grace for President to a group of Kindergartners before donating the book to the school’s library. Grace for President teaches students the electoral process, the value of hard work and courage, and encourages young girls to pursue public service.

The last day of Lesko’s school tour began in Anthem at Boulder Creek High School, part of the Deer Valley Unified School District. She made a stop at the music department to hear from Boulder Creek’s nationally recognized choir.

Lesko then toured West-MEC Central Campus in Glendale, which offers high school and adult students a wide variety of career and technical education courses including avionics, welding, precision machining, and coding. At Western Sky Middle School in Goodyear, Lesko discussed Litchfield Elementary School District’s number one ranking for elementary school districts in the state of Arizona.

Education is one of Lesko’s top priorities in Congress. During the visits, Lesko discussed a number of federal issues with school leaders, as well as her recently introduced bill in Congress to give states more flexibility when it comes to education by allowing them to set their own policies free from burdensome Washington mandates.

In June, Congresswoman Lesko introduced H.R. 6259, the Make Education Local Act, to allow individual states to submit their own education policy plan to the Secretary of Education to free up dollars so that funding will go directly to students and teachers instead of being spent to comply with federal regulators.

“Arizona’s Eighth District schools are some of the best,” said Congresswoman Lesko. “During my visits, I was continually impressed by students, teachers, and administrators. In Congress, I am committed to improving education opportunities for Arizona students, and I will continue to support legislation that will make our schools second to none."