Lynn C. Woolsey: “H.R. 2503 has one fatal flaw, and it must keep every Member of this Congress and in this body, every Member that…”

“H.R. 2503 has one fatal flaw, and it must keep every Member of this Congress and in this body, every Member that supports public education, from voting for it. H.R. 5203 takes much-needed Federal funds away from public schools and gives that money to wealthy families to pay for private schools. While private schools and religious schools and military schools are an important part of the education mix in this country, they must not be funded with Federal dollars. Yet this is exactly what H.R. 5203 does. It makes the tax breaks for families who use education savings accounts to pay for private schools a permanent benefit. Families who can afford to put part of their income into education savings accounts more often than not are the same families who can afford to pay for private schools. We must not, we cannot, and we should not be using precious Federal dollars to subsidize children who come from wealthy families so that they can go to private schools and take that money away from our public school system. A strong public education system is the only way we can prepare all of our children for the high wage, high skilled jobs that will ensure America's place in the world market. A strong public school system is also how we prevent dependency on welfare here at home. Public education is the backbone of our country. It is why we are a great Nation.”