Bob Schaffer: “They have to account for how those dollars are spent by States which is where those dollars go next. Once the money goes…”

“They have to account for how those dollars are spent by States which is where those dollars go next. Once the money goes to the States, the States have those dollars distributed by more politicians, State legislators, those dollars go to their State departments of education, from there to the school districts, from the school districts through the political process there, ultimately to the school, and then finally down there to the child. My point being is that each one of these agencies within this bureaucratic model, they have their own function, their own focus, their own set of goals and objectives; and often they do not match up. They are not consistent. Here in Washington as conservatives who are just kind of antibureaucracy types like those of us represented here tonight, when we try to change this system and make it more efficient, we step on a lot of toes, as you can see. These agencies, these State bureaucracies, and the school districts, they have tremendous political influence here in Washington. In fact, the teachers union is probably the most, I do not think you would get much argument, is the most powerful political influence here in Washington, D.C., in terms of a single special interest group. So this is a huge, massive bureaucracy, that has a tremendous political force here in Washington. Talking about changing, this is something we need to do and will continue to do. We are not going to give up on that, but we have not been too successful, unfortunately.”