Tom Tancredo: “Currently, 7 percent of all students enrolled in Catholic schools are identified as disabled. Less than 1 percent of…”

“Currently, 7 percent of all students enrolled in Catholic schools are identified as disabled. Less than 1 percent of them get services. They generate $10 million in revenue for the schools in IDEA. The schools actually get about $78,000 out of that $10 million generated. So when we talk about equity issues and we come to this floor to talk about the needs of all children, please consider the fact that these are children also. They happen to be in a different setting. They happen to be in a school that is not a government school. But that should not determine whether or not they are served. We have time and time again stood on this floor arguing about whether or not we are really talking about children in these bills that we pass for education or whether or not we are just simply trying to support a particular system, a particular way of educating children. Should our concern not simply be about the children? We hear that word bandied about, so often used to describe our motives here, but when it is a child other than the one the government runs, we say they do not deserve it. This is a great amendment. I hope we support it.”