Political Quotes

“Mr. Chairman, I join the gentleman from California (Mr. Miller) offering this amendment, and I rise in strong support. This amendment seeks to strengthen the efficiencies in the Ed-Flex program identified in a November General Accounting Office Report. This report of the GAO said that the ability of the existing Ed-Flex program to enforce accountability is suspect. GAO said that the States are not setting required goals for increased student achievement and little is known about the actual impact of waivers. Part of the rationale for the enactment of this demonstration program in 1994, and it was 1994, Mr. Chairman, when I was still chairman of the subcommittee; part of the rationale for the enactment was that we will be able to gauge the impact of waivers on student achievement. This is not presently possible. The Miller-Kildee amendment, accountability amendment, seeks to address these issues. Very simply, Mr. Chairman, this amendment would require States who wish to participate in Ed-Flex to have the system of standards and aligned assessments as required in Title I in place. This amendment will mean that States participating in Ed-Flex will be able to accurately measure student performance and also produce disaggregated results based on categories of at-risk student populations.”