Dan Coats: “we had, I think, a very constructive debate on the school choice issue, scholarships for D.C. children. Unfortunately…”

“we had, I think, a very constructive debate on the school choice issue, scholarships for D.C. children. Unfortunately, while having obtained a majority vote in support of at least a test of a program to provide some educational opportunities to D.C. children, we were not able to break a procedural vote of 60 necessary to move forward with this legislation. That limited our options considerably. While Senator Lieberman and I were pleased with the fact that we received more votes than we ever have on this issue, we were still two short of the necessary number to break the promised filibuster on this, and that limits our options. Mr. President, this is an issue that is not going away. I have always said this is not something that will be legislated from the top down in Congress but will be a grassroots movement from parents and PTA's and administrators and educators and others throughout America who are demanding better education for their children. Unfortunately, in many instances, they are not finding it in some of their public schools. This is not a condemnation of the public school system. There are many fine public schools across this country. There are dedicated teachers, dedicated administrators, schools that are providing opportunities for their young people. I am a product of the public schools, as is my wife. Our children are products of public schools, and we have found schools that have provided a sound education for our children.”