Judd Gregg: “I respond by saying that you are breaking new ground. The application of the word is the manner in which you break new…”

“I respond by saying that you are breaking new ground. The application of the word is the manner in which you break new ground. ``Comparable'' applied in one manner means one thing, but applied to another manner means something else. If you are applying ``comparable'' to a school system within a city, that is one thing. When you say ``comparable'' within an entire State, it is entirely different. Furthermore, if you are, specifically within the terms of comparable, defining what comparable means by saying class size, qualification of teachers, curriculum, range of courses offered, you are essentially setting up the standards in a very top-down, directive manner of what is going to happen in the school systems across the State. You are saying that they essentially all have to be the same. Now, if we are talking about opportunity, what the underlying bill does is create opportunity. That is the whole concept of this bill. This bill is dedicated to giving all the children in America--but especially the low-income child--the opportunity to succeed. We have now been through 25 or 35 years of an experiment in helping title I kids, and it has failed. One-hundred twenty-six billion dollars has been spent, and the average title I child is reading at two grade levels behind his or her peers. We know it hasn't worked. So the President has said let's try a different approach, an approach focused on the child, giving that child an opportunity to learn. That is exactly what this bill does.”