Political Quotes

“Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The gentleman from Iowa is happy to be recognized. Addressing this issue, in particular it's this: that the intent of this bill is a good intent, and I support it, providing an extra incentive for high quality charter schools. It rewards those high quality charter schools with an opportunity to receive grants that are rewards for that excellence that's there, and I certainly support the initiative and the philosophy behind that. It also identifies high quality charter schools as those that have achieved strong academic results, student safety, financial management, statutory and regulatory compliance, and has demonstrated significantly increasing student academic achievement for all students. And I emphasize ``all students.'' But when I read the bill, then it says, also has demonstrated success in increasing student academic achievement for the subgroups of students described in, and that's where a lot of people stop reading the bill. But when you go back and look at the reference, it sets it up so that it requires not just that the schools be open and available to students that meet these categories, four categories, Mr. Chairman-- economic disadvantaged students, students from major racial and ethnic groups, students with disabilities, and students with limited English proficiency--but, in fact, the language of the bill requires that all four categories must be met in order to qualify for these grants.…”