George Miller: “I would say that I hope all Members of the House will reject this amendment. The language in the legislation is…”

“I would say that I hope all Members of the House will reject this amendment. The language in the legislation is identical to legislation that I have introduced along with Senator Cochran of Mississippi which has over 130 cosponsors. It has bipartisan support. This is a program that has been fantastically successful in teaching teachers how to teach writing so that young people can learn how to write and how to provide for critical assessment. This program has received national honors from private businesses, from foundations, from the nonprofit sector of our economy. This program garners far more in private money than we will provide under this legislation. But that is exactly the point. By providing a small amount of seed money to keep the program going, we will be able to garner all kinds of additional private, nonprofit support for this program. And that is what we want to do. That is what we call the private-public partnership, and in this case the multiplier of teaching these teachers the skills to teach our young children how to write. How many of my colleagues have had the experience of having a resume in their office and talking to young people, and what is it we want to know? 'Can you write? Give me a writing sample.' Unfortunately, all too many American students and graduates fall short on that.”