Edward M. Kennedy: “we are on the threshold of an important moment for education reform in this Nation. When we pass this bill today, with…”

“we are on the threshold of an important moment for education reform in this Nation. When we pass this bill today, with strong bipartisan support, we will be changing the way that the Federal Government supports the revitalization of local schools in every school district in America. We will also have ended congressional gridlock on education reform, for not only will we pass Goals 2000, the education reform legislation, the first such legislation that has successfully made it through the Congress since the national goals were set in 1989, but today we will also act on the Safe Schools Act that was put forward by our friend and colleague Senator Dodd; the School-to-Work Act, which I will talk more about later and which was really energized by our good friend Senator Simon and others; and the Office of Education Research and Improvement legislation, which will represent the first time that we have really ensured that this agency will be equipped to do the kind of research that it was initially set up to do, and which is a bill that has been awaiting passage for over 3 years. In a single day, we will lay much of the foundation for lifelong learning in this country.”