Political Quotes

“I rise to oppose the Hoekstra amendment that would merge a majority of the current Federal education programs into block grants to local school districts. This amendment would essentially eliminate all accountability for the use of Federal funds in our public education system. I, too, believe in driving dollars to the classroom, and I believe that local education agencies must be afforded a certain amount of flexibility to use Federal funds in accordance with the needs of the local education community. Under this amendment, however, the Federal Government would hand over funds to local school systems and indicate that they may use the money in any way they please, without any standards of accountability. I believe that the education of our children should be a top priority. An investment in education is essential to our Nation's future. Under the Hoekstra amendment Federal education funds could be used by local agencies for noneducation purposes. The amount that we appropriate for education is always short of what is needed to be fully effective. The Federal Government contributes only 6 percent to elementary and secondary education. As the Washington Post pointed out this week, Federal funds fill in the gaps and provide programs for lower income students who would be underserved without Federal efforts. We simply cannot afford to allow the small amount of money that we appropriate for education to be used for other purposes.”