Katie Porter: “From this Republican's perspective, this is exactly the kind of thing that we need to have in the public schools that I…”

“From this Republican's perspective, this is exactly the kind of thing that we need to have in the public schools that I see problems in, where we have entrenched bureaucracies, often teachers unions, I have to say, sometimes entrenched administrators, people that are incompetent that we cannot get rid of, things that we need to address in a broad way to make the school work better. It seems to me that this is exactly the kind of program that will help the inner city schools that need the most help to push away all of that dead weight and get on with a program that works for their kids. I believe very frankly that this will work extremely well from my philosophical and I think the philosophical standpoint of the gentleman from Arizona as well. This does not impose anything on the States. It does not impose anything on the school districts. It allows the school districts to make their own decisions as to how they want to reform, and it seems to me it gives them every opportunity to do so. This money is money that would otherwise be spent, in my judgment, on a program that does not work well, title I. It simply throws money at inner city schools without any real guidance as to how they use it and it is often used in ways that do not give a better opportunity to the kids. So I think it is good reform.”