Timothy Roemer: “I just want to take this time to remind my colleagues that this is bipartisan legislation. It has been a pleasure…”

“I just want to take this time to remind my colleagues that this is bipartisan legislation. It has been a pleasure working with my good friend, the gentleman from California [Mr. Riggs] on this very important legislation. We have spent the last couple of days talking about foreign policy, talking about United States-China relations. It is important that we discuss how we boldly reform public education in America today. This legislation is strongly supported by the President. President Clinton has been a strong advocate of charter schools. This came out of our committee, the Committee on Education and the Work Force, with 10 Democrats voting for it, 8 opposed to it. This legislation is about public school choice, so our parents can send their children to good public schools, charter schools, alternative schools, magnet schools, and give them more choices and create more competition in the public school system. It is about schools that function with less bureaucracy and with less strings attached. It is about schools that try bold ideas with respect to curriculum and school days and partnerships with businesses and apprenticeship programs. This is a very, very good bill. It is not the panacea, Mr. Chairman. It is not the silver bullet to solve all educational problems in America today. But it is certainly an arrow in the quiver. It is certainly one of the options to help us move forward and, in a bipartisan way, solve education problems.”