Political Quotes

“we should step back from the rhetoric for a moment and calmly ask the question: What is this debate all about? It is about two simple ideas. They are competing ideas, and neither one is necessarily a bad idea. The question is which one is better. On the one hand, we have an idea that comes from Washington, DC. It is not a bad idea. It comes from very smart people. The idea is that a lot of school districts in this country could benefit by having the money to hire more teachers. There is nothing wrong with that. Washington, DC, has a lot of bright people, and sometimes some good ideas come from them. But every school district in this country is different. What the Kennedy-Murray amendment will provide for is only one program, only one idea, and that is that Federal money would be available for one purpose and one purpose only: the hiring of more teachers. As I said, it is a fine idea; it is good for many but not all. That is where the other idea comes into play. The other idea is that the same amount of money should be made available to the local school districts to be used not just to hire more teachers but for any other legitimate purpose which they believe would best meet the needs of their students based upon their circumstances. It is a matter of choice.…”