Political Quotes

“And I say to the Senator from Iowa--and I know how deeply he feels about special education--I feel the same way, the same intensity level about the reaction, as parents walk into the school board meeting and say: This high school that I planned on sending my son to, my daughter to so she could get into a good college, I read in the morning paper is a failing school. Will you tell me why I made the sacrifice to buy an expensive home in the suburbs to send my child to a school for his future or her future and now it is a failing school? Explain it to me. The educators will put the test scores up, and they will see it is the minority students and the students of Hispanic ancestry, as well as the special education students, who are leading to this conclusion. Now, two things can happen, I say to the Senator from Iowa. The good thing that can happen is we will say: What can we do to bring all test scores up, particularly for those kids who are not doing well. Well, you will not find the answer in this budget. This budget misses the target by $9 billion in providing extra teachers, extra technology, extra attention. It is not there. But there is another course we can take that is sinister and ugly. It is the course that says: Incidentally, when those minority students don't come to school, don't go looking for them--would you?--because they are dragging down the test scores. That would be a terrible outcome.”