Political Quotes

“For the last 18 months we have had the opportunity to go around America and we have had hearings in 17 States about what works and what does not work in education. We have also had an opportunity to take a look at education and what education means in Washington, and we have found that in Washington education means hundreds of programs, and we say ``Hallelujah, at least they're all in the Education Department,'' and it is kind of like, no, they are spread over 39 agencies, and we say, ``Well, at least they're effective and efficient which means that we're going to get those dollars down to kids,'' and it is like, no, that is not true either because for every time we take a dollar out of a local community and send it to Washington, we only get about 65 cents back to a child and back to a classroom. That is not very good, and that is not helping kids. What works is when we leave control at the local level, when we leave the money at a local school district and do not take it to Washington and siphon off 30 to 40 cents, when we leave control at the local level, and we do not get people at the local level begging for money from Washington and getting the money back with a whole lot of rules and regulations. What works is when we focus on basic academics, and what works is when we empower parents.”