Bob Schaffer

And the tax credit will not be the equivalent amount that we are proposing, all of the dollars that the taxpayer is forced, they are still going to send money.

In the hearing we conducted last week on this topic, we had one opponent who was opposed to Joshua and his academic dreams. There was a group called Citizens for the American Way, and it was their representative.

The lobbyist for that outfit was not particularly cogent when he was talking about the issue. But one of the tactics that he deployed in the committee was try to mislabel the education tax credit as a voucher. The reality is, this is very…

Talking about funding schools from the standpoint of tax freedom, as opposed to just spending more money, I think makes eminent sense. That is the kind of discussion we have really needed here in Washington for a long, long time. I am…

Americans want to help. I think most taxpayers are inclined to agree that investing in America's education system is a good idea and, if given the chance, they typically make the choice to do that. There are some tax hurdles in the way and…

I would point out just to emphasize this point, that the tax credit proposal, since it is a change in Tax Code, rather than the education budget, really has no impact at all on the funds that have been proposed by this Congress and by the…

This focus you mention on local control and local priorities really is the most attractive feature, I think, in an education tax credit proposal.

Mr. Speaker, I would say this is a great resolution, and I am honored to be able to introduce it in the House. I want to just mention all of the people back home in Colorado who have worked hard to elevate the prominence of Dearfield, and…

The White House has also fought us on this notion of expanding Ed-Flex to all of the 50 States. There were 12 States that piloted this flexibility act where some achieved great things. The State of Texas as we mentioned has raised…

Ours says, let us fully fund the mandates that are there first. Let us give Los Angeles, for example, the $90 million a year to spend on whatever they want. If they want to fix the roof, that would be their prerogative. If they want to buy…

It comes right back to the rallying cry that the gentleman has espoused over and over again, focus on quality, not quantity. We see that not only with this effort toward hiring more employees in schools, but we hear it when it comes to…

Perhaps we can talk about that for a moment, because we have been to New York, to California, and around the country. Even in a big city like Los Angeles, $90 million is not pocket change. That is real money.