David Weldon: “I am a product of the public school system. I went to primary and secondary, as well as college and medical school…”

“I am a product of the public school system. I went to primary and secondary, as well as college and medical school, through public schools. Indeed, my mother was a public school teacher. But yet, I support this bill, and I think this bill is a very good bill. And, frankly, I am appalled at the kind of language that people are using to describe this concept. I mean, this is a very, very limited, small scholarship program; and to use this kind of language that I think incites fear in people, frankly, I just do not understand it. We have a very serious problem in the D.C. public school system. Sixty-five percent of D.C. public schoolchildren test below their grade level, this despite spending about $7,500 per student. The Washington Post, not exactly a Republican newspaper, reported that 85 percent of the D.C. public school graduates who enter a university need remedial education. Forty percent of the high school students either drop out or they shift over to a private school. Now let me tell my colleagues something: Rich people have school choice in the city of Washington. Indeed, the President, the Vice President, how many Members of this body send their children to the D.C. public schools? We are talking about giving a limited number of students a scholarship and to see how well it goes over, to see if the families like it, to see if the children like it. And they use this language like we want to destroy public education all across America.”