Paul Coverdell: “I will be very brief. The Senator from Virginia and I have an honorable disagreement about how the Federal Government…”

“I will be very brief. The Senator from Virginia and I have an honorable disagreement about how the Federal Government ought to respond to being a better partner in education. But the one issue that I would take some exception to and would like to clarify is the question of whether this is designed to be a voucher. It is not a voucher. The good Senator from New Jersey, Mr. Torricelli, who vehemently does not support vouchers, is a coauthor because he does not view this as a voucher. I would not say that of the 70 percent of the families who would open an account who are in public schools, some family somewhere with that savings account might not make a change. But it would be statistically insignificant. If they did, I think it is a right that they should have. As the Senator from Virginia said, 90 percent-plus of our students are in public schools. I venture to say that 10 years from now, 90 percent-plus of our students are still going to be in public schools. The proposal is not designed to be a disguise for vouchers. It never has been.”