Trent Franks: “I find it ironic that this body is essentially the school district for the Washington, D.C. schools. Perhaps the…”

“I find it ironic that this body is essentially the school district for the Washington, D.C. schools. Perhaps the nomenclature is a little different, but the reality is we are in charge of trying to make sure that the Washington school districts here in the District of Columbia operate effectively. Now, in Arizona, just to give a comparative, about $6,800 per year in the public school system is what it takes us to educate a child, when you add maintenance and operations along with the cost of facilities. But here in Washington, D.C. it is over $12,000. It is the highest in the Nation. If we know what we are doing here in terms of educational policy, why is the one school area that we are most in charge of costing the most and have some of the poorest schools in the Nation?”