Rick Allen: “Mr. Chairman, wherever I go in the State of Maine, the school districts that are in my district and across the State…”

“Mr. Chairman, wherever I go in the State of Maine, the school districts that are in my district and across the State, they are not looking just at the cost of developing the test, though it is pretty clear that they do not have the money to do that. They are not looking just at the cost of developing the test, they are looking at the cost of how to operate the test, and they are also faced with teacher quality mandates that are a real burden. The General Accounting Office has estimated that for fiscal year 2004, that the administration requested $390 million, $182 million below State 2004 expenditures as estimated. What we are talking about here in different categories, and that is just one, is a failure of the Federal Government to meet the actual amount that our States and local municipalities will have to spend.”