John Tierney: “I think it is one area in education that we can finally say that people have tried to work together without rancor and…”

“I think it is one area in education that we can finally say that people have tried to work together without rancor and bitterness to try to come together with an idea of how we might really buttress our public schools. When we voted a little over an hour ago on vouchers, I think there was a clear division, a clear disagreement as to whether or not that was a step outside of support for public schools into an area that many of us did not want to go and do not think is going to strengthen our public school system. I have said it here on the floor before, and I think it bears repeating, that we have a clear philosophy in this country that we are, in fact, in favor of public schools. We understand that those people that are fortunate enough to be able to send their children to private schools should have the ability to do so, and that has historically been the case. But there are over 50 million children in this country that do not have that kind of benefit, do not have the family with that kind of income. Nor is there any likelihood that we are going to ever create 50 million vouchers to give everybody the chance. But we can provide better public schools for all 50-million-plus of those children.”