Paul Coverdell: “I did want to take a minute or two to reiterate that the proposal currently before the body that is authored by myself…”

“I did want to take a minute or two to reiterate that the proposal currently before the body that is authored by myself on this side of the aisle, and Senator Torricelli on their side of the aisle, is a bipartisan effort to bring about substantial change in education. The minority leader and I have a different view on the data coming out of our elementary schools. He suggested that we are doing pretty well in math among fourth graders, and near the top in science. I just haven't seen any data that suggests that. The data I am seeing suggests that only 4 out of 10 students in our big city schools are able to pass a basic exam. If you lump them all together, it only gets up to 6 out of 10, which is hardly something that America can count on to get ready for the new century.”