John Kline: “I just want to address this issue of grants and block grants and so forth we are starting to hear a little bit about. I…”

“I just want to address this issue of grants and block grants and so forth we are starting to hear a little bit about. I have been hearing for years, as I talk to superintendents in Minnesota and around the country, their frustration with the maze of Federal programs, 80-some Federal programs, each with its soda straw of funding and requirements for action and reporting. They have told me again and again: I have got money here, and I don't need it there. I need money here, and I can't move that money. I don't have the flexibility to move that money. I need to be able to put the resources where my students need it. So, by eliminating 65 of those soda straws of individual controls and giving that flexibility to superintendents, we allow the money to be spent where it is needed the most. I think that is one of the great strengths of this bill, and it is one of the reasons why the American Association of School Superintendents does support this legislation. I reserve the balance of my time.”