Judd Gregg: “This amendment is an incredibly pervasive amendment and will have a fundamental effect on the Federal role in education.…”

“This amendment is an incredibly pervasive amendment and will have a fundamental effect on the Federal role in education. It will, in my opinion, create an atmosphere where the Federal Government is essentially nationalizing the standards throughout the country for what education will be. The way it does this is as follows: It says that every school district in a State must be comparable, and it is up to the State to decide that comparability. But if the State doesn't decide the comparability, then the Federal Government starts to withdraw the funds. And it also sets up the standards for what must be comparable. It is a Federal standard--what must be comparable under this amendment. The standard includes class size, qualifications of teachers by category of assignments, curriculum, range of courses offered, instructional material, instructional resources. You essentially are saying the Federal Government is going to require comparability--comparability meaning that everybody does it essentially the same way--throughout the country, or at least throughout every State, within every State. Logically, the next step is to do it across the country from State to State.”