Asa Hutchinson: “I believe this bill demonstrates that we, as Republicans, have a deep concern about education in this country. We have a…”

“I believe this bill demonstrates that we, as Republicans, have a deep concern about education in this country. We have a deep concern about improving education for our children, who are precious to us. And we recognize that this is best done at the local level, where teachers know the names of our kids, and can pick up the phone and call the parents when the need arises. These decisions are better made at the local school district level, the State level, and not by a greater and bigger Federal bureaucracy. Last evening, in his State of the Union Address, the President proposed 'the first ever national effort to reduce the class size in the early grades . . . by hiring 100,000 new teachers.' So I ask, is this really a genuine effort to reduce the size of our children's classes? Or is it just another exercise of ever bigger Government, and a move in that gradual effort toward federalizing education in this country? Why are new teachers, mandated from Washington, the ticket to smaller class sizes?”