Political Quotes

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As I discussed with Mr. Scalise in the Rules Committee yesterday, I think this amendment is just a terrible, terrible idea. It would remove any and all requirements and proof of teacher effectiveness. Effectively now, we have a measure called, Highly Qualified Teacher. We agree, most of us, that there are flaws in that, and it is an input- based criteria rather than an output-based criteria. I cosponsor a bill with Susan Davis, the STELLAR Act, which would ensure that States have high-quality teacher evaluation systems in place after 3 years. We were worried, frankly, about what would happen during the 3 years. I offered and withdrew an amendment to at least have some basic reporting during this 3-year transition period. What the Scalise amendment does is it gets rid of the end result of that 3-year period. It says we are going to go through an indefinite period with no reporting, no metrics, no assurance of quality. Need I remind the gentleman from Louisiana that our U.S. taxpayers are, in part, paying the salaries of many teachers that are partially funded through IDEA special ed funds or through title I free and reduced lunch funds, not to mention the fact that these are the teachers, the most important person, and it is ruining the educational outcome for the child--the most important person in making sure the kids succeed.…”