Todd Rokita: “I want to thank my friend and colleague for this amendment, and I appreciate being able to join with him on it and on…”

“I want to thank my friend and colleague for this amendment, and I appreciate being able to join with him on it and on continuing our work on the charter school initiatives. Mr. Chairman, this amendment supports the sharing of best practices between charter schools and traditional public schools. Again, I think that is a good thing. We have seen the successful charter school- traditional public school collaborations, like in Ohio between breakthrough schools and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, and we know that working together helps each of them excel. It is the old adage of iron sharpening iron, and that is reflected here in this good amendment. Put simply, Mr. Chairman, many of us believe other charter schools and traditional public schools can benefit from these partnerships as well. This is a great amendment, and it improves the underlying bill. I thank the gentleman for offering it, and I urge my colleagues to support it. I yield back the balance of my time.”