Rand Paul: “I rise to oppose H.R. 1350, the Improving Education Results for Children with Disabilities Act. I oppose this bill as a…”

“I rise to oppose H.R. 1350, the Improving Education Results for Children with Disabilities Act. I oppose this bill as a strong supporter of doing everything possible to advance the education of persons with disabilities. However, I believe this bill is yet another case of false advertising by supporters of centralized education, as it expands the federal education bureaucracy and thus strips control over education from local communities and the parents of disabled children. Parents and local communities know their children so much better than any federal bureaucrat, and they can do a better job of meeting a child's needs than we in Washington. There is no way that the unique needs of my grandchildren, and some young boy or girl in Los Angeles, CA or New York City can be educated by some sort of 'Cookie Cutter' approach. In fact, the 'Cookie Cutter' approach is especially inappropriate for special needs children. At a time when Congress should be returning power and funds to the states, IDEA increases Federal control over education.”