John Tierney: “Mr. Chairman, I heard the gentleman on the other side of the aisle refer to this money as new money. Well, this is not…”

“Mr. Chairman, I heard the gentleman on the other side of the aisle refer to this money as new money. Well, this is not new money. This is money that is not being appropriated for the modernization of our schools, it is not being appropriated for smaller classrooms so there can be better discipline and the children can get more personal attention. It is not being appropriated for more teacher recruitment or mentoring or professional development so that all of the things that we know really would improve the education of our children in public schools could be done. Those are the things that work. That is what my colleagues tell us vouchers will do, is get those kinds of circumstances, yet they are unwilling to make the commitment in our public schools to see that happen. They would rather privatize education. Mr. Chairman, we have had privatized education before. It was pre- Horace Mann. What we got as a result was some very exclusive people that could afford an education and many who could not. One of my colleagues on the other side said the only hope for America is this voucher program passing. Mr. Chairman, I do not think that is close to correct. What hope is in this country is a free public education for all Americans, whatever their social and economic background. That is where we ought to be focusing our attention.”