Wayne Allard: “I wanted to bring some comments to the floor from a neighbor's perspective, a neighbor of the great State of Utah, what…”

“I wanted to bring some comments to the floor from a neighbor's perspective, a neighbor of the great State of Utah, what I have been hearing about education in Colorado. Colorado has taken a very progressive approach to education with the new Governor of Colorado, Governor Owens, and the Colorado Legislature. They have decided to try to do something about education. In that regard, they are probably somewhat ahead of what we see happening in other States. What they are attempting to do is very much the same type of program that the President is proposing to the Congress. As a Congress, we need to help the President give the States more control over the educational system--with accountability. I do think accountability is the key. I share the observations of my colleague from Utah that test scores are not getting better. I am looking at the test score trend, not recently but over several decades, as to how we compare with other countries in math scores, how we have been doing over time in math and English scores, and I am disturbed by the trend. We need to do things that will improve the math skills of our students. We need to do things that will improve the English-proficiency skills of our students.”