Political Quotes

“I thank the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia for yielding and for her leadership. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 10. We have been told that the purpose of this bill is to help all D.C. children get a better education. I strongly support that objective, but this bill does not do that. Let me be crystal clear: public funds should support public education. But this bill proposes to spend more than $100 million over 5 years to fund vouchers to send public school students in the District of Columbia to private schools while House Republicans are proposing to cut $2 billion from public K-12 education nationally. Coming from the city of Baltimore, I understand firsthand the complexities of turning around struggling inner-city schools. Almost 10 years ago, I became deeply involved in improving one of my own neighborhood schools--and I am still involved in that--the Maritime Industries Academy High School. It takes vision, commitment, accountability, and, yes, resources to begin the process of turning troubled schools around. However, it is impossible to turn around public schools if we divert public resources to private schools. Put simply, H.R. 10 attempts to help a few students at the expense of the vast majority of the District's children. By dividing the funding it would provide among D.C.'s public schools, public charter schools, and private school vouchers, H.R. 10 provides a third of its total funding to a tiny fraction of the District's students.…”