Chris Dodd: “If I just turn over a blank check to you, in effect, and at the end of the day say, I now want you to be accountable for…”

“If I just turn over a blank check to you, in effect, and at the end of the day say, I now want you to be accountable for it--and I have not demanded any kind of requirement where these dollars are targeted--then you get almost zero accountability. That was the experience we had for years. So we changed that--we focused on high standards for all children and accountability for results. We targeted resources and demanded a return on these investments. What the present bill on the floor does is erase the bill of 1994, in effect, and goes back to the past when we didn't have the accountability and when achievement was sliding down rather than tracking up. We know block grants don't work; we have tried them before. They simply support the status quo. If that is good enough for you, then maybe this bill is. But in my view, this is not just good enough. This bill also walks away from our public schools in supporting voucher programs that would funnel much needed public resources to pay for private schools. Madame President, public schools educate over 90 percent of the children in America. They are the foundations of our communities, our economy and our democracy. We must not, cannot, walk away from them like this bill does. These policies are a recipe for failure for our schools--dollars funneled away and frittered away on the status quo, less accountability, less targeting to real need, less funding and more of the status quo.”