Bill Clinton: “I rise to express my very strong support for Senator Murray's class size reduction amendment. I have been in this…”

“I rise to express my very strong support for Senator Murray's class size reduction amendment. I have been in this Chamber several times in the last weeks talking about class size and have shown numerous pictures of conditions in the classes in the schools in New York. I have listened to the extraordinary description of other colleagues as to what their students and teachers face day in and day out because of overcrowded classrooms. I know we will be making decisions that determine the opportunities for our educational achievement for our students for years to come when we vote on this amendment and on the bill of which I hope it will be a part. I have to reiterate several points and call on my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to look at the evidence. I do believe sometimes in Washington we live in an evidence-free zone. It does not matter who comes up with whatever scientific research or evidence. If it runs against any particular political point of view, it is not given the seriousness it deserves. I do not see how we can turn our backs on the evidence that we have from study after study that lower class size, when it comes to teaching children from disadvantaged backgrounds, makes all the difference.”