John Tierney: “I proceed because I think it is important for the people to know that if it is Goals 2000 about which they want to have…”

“I proceed because I think it is important for the people to know that if it is Goals 2000 about which they want to have the debate, let us have it straightforward on that particular program. This is a program that President Bush put forward with the cooperation of Governors across this Nation, including a then Governor who is now President of the United States. It is a program that virtually every major business group supported, every major educational group supported, people by and large in this country supported because it was not national standards, it was an opportunity to combine Federal resources with local and State resources to establish standards to raise the bar for students across this country, to give them goals to achieve. That is what we ought to be doing. Then we have to assess where they are. But we need teacher development. Goals 2000 provides the tools to do that. We need to have assessment, and the local communities can do that with the help they get from Goals 2000. We need to have parental involvement, and some communities have taken Goals 2000 grants and done just that, increased parental involvement. These are the programs that we put forward repeatedly, programs that help the public schools in this country improve the ability of the children to learn and give them a chance in this life. If you do not like Goals 2000, take a straight vote on whether or not to cut that program.”