Political Quotes

“In this week of partisan divisions here on the floor of the House of Representatives, we have a unique opportunity in this amendment, in this bill, to come together around supporting public charter schools. This week, Mr. Chairman, is Public Charter Schools Week. What better way to celebrate than to upgrade the Federal Charter Schools Program with language that Democrats, Republicans, and all important stakeholders can agree on. Truly, all stakeholders are part of this discussion. Authorizers, including districts and States and special districts, public charter schools themselves, teachers unions, teachers, were all at the table to ensure that we can create a program that builds upon the successes of the two decades of the public charter school movement and will allow it to reach even greater heights in the next decade. On behalf of Ranking Member Miller and myself, we are proud to support the Messer amendment. We are also proud to support the underlying bill. By ensuring that States that apply for this program explain how they will work with applicants to encourage replication and expansion at the secondary level, we can ensure that the needs of all students are better met. Particularly, in many areas of our country we have high schools that are persistently failing, with dropout rates of 50 percent year after year, where half the kids coming in the door in ninth grade don't leave in 12th.…”