Dick Durbin: “No, I will not. You have your own time. If we had voted for the Byrd amendment, $19 million would have gone to the State…”

“No, I will not. You have your own time. If we had voted for the Byrd amendment, $19 million would have gone to the State of New Hampshire. If we had joined Senator Kennedy voting for it, the Massachusetts allocation would have been $129, and $250 million from my own State. So let me say to those passionately committed to No Child Left Behind today, where were you yesterday? Where were you on the Byrd amendment when you could have put the money we promised into the bill? To my friend Senator Kennedy, it is indeed painful. It was unthinkable, when I ran for the Senate, that I would be in this position of debating him on an education issue, but we do disagree. What I am eliminating is the mandate. Each and every school district in his State and my State can use the Federal funds for tutoring, for teacher quality, for afterschool. The funds that are available can be used. But the mandate is removed until we put an adequate amount of money on the table. Regarding his State of Massachusetts, he speaks about the MCAS score, and he is proud of it. Yet the most recent report is this out of Massachusetts. The State is planning to eliminate tutorial assistance to students who fail the MCAS test, which is required for graduation, on their first try. Massachusetts, as good a story as there is to be told, is struggling, like the State of Louisiana and the State of Nebraska and the State of New Hampshire and the State of Illinois. Yet our mandates continue.”