Political Quotes

“I rise in strong support of Ed-Flex because it gives States and local officials in 12 States now greater freedom from regulation in the use of Federal education dollars. We need to expand that. This is moving in the right direction. It is not all the way there. They should be encouraging innovation, creativity, and flexibility on the local level in regard to education. We should not be handcuffing teachers, principals, and others from trying to do what is right for the kids in their schools. I think expanding Ed-Flex is a step in the right direction of putting our Nation's children first and not the red tape and bureaucracy. Ed-Flex is a step in the right direction because it moves in the direction of putting decisionmaking back where it belongs, on the local and State level. It proposes consolidating funding and removing the strings that Washington has put on. Over the last 2 years, I have met with principals, teachers, superintendents, parents, and school board members in every section of my State. It is amazing what they tell me when I ask them about how our Federal programs are helping them. They say, ``They are burying us in red tape. We have to hire people to write grant applications, and to try to play `Mother May I' with the Federal Government.”