John Kline: “I thank the gentlewoman and the gentleman in her stead for this amendment, although I do oppose it. I think most of us…”

“I thank the gentlewoman and the gentleman in her stead for this amendment, although I do oppose it. I think most of us agree that there is great value to early childhood education. That is why the underlying bill would allow States and schools to use funds allocated through both the local academic flexible grants and under title I to support pre-K programs. As I know the gentleman knows, we already spend--the Federal Government--over $13 billion a year in pre-K programs. The premier program, which is Head Start, spends over $8 billion a year. And I think we should concentrate on getting those right instead of creating yet another new, massive program that would simply compete with other programs for scarce taxpayer resources. So while this is somewhat duplicative, another large program, I appreciate the gentleman's passion for pre-K learning. But, unfortunately, because we don't, in my judgment, need yet another new program when we haven't properly evaluated existing programs, I oppose this amendment. I urge my colleagues to oppose the amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time. {time} 2230”