Bill Clinton: “I associate myself with a number of the points made by my friend from Arkansas. Clearly, what we are attempting to do is…”

“I associate myself with a number of the points made by my friend from Arkansas. Clearly, what we are attempting to do is to put the emphasis on what works and to provide to our children the opportunity to have the best possible education. I have been very privileged over the last 20 years to know quite a bit about education in Arkansas, which my good friend has the privilege of representing, and now I know a lot about education in New York. I have no doubt that my friend, were he still here, would agree with me that our goals are the same for the children in both States. We want to provide the best possible educational opportunities, but we face very different challenges. What I saw and worked on for many years in improving education in Arkansas, which was one of the great honors of my life, is very different from what I now see day in and day out in New York City, where we have more than a million children in our school system. I agree with my friend that what we are crafting is an approach that will give to local school districts, parents, and teachers the tools to make the right decisions for the children whose futures they hold in their hands.”