James M. Jeffords: “once again we are here debating the District of Columbia appropriations bill for the current fiscal year, which is now…”

“once again we are here debating the District of Columbia appropriations bill for the current fiscal year, which is now fully 5 months old. The city began the year strapped for cash and it has not received $254 million of Federal funds that will be available once this bill is enacted. The kids in the public schools are still faced with a community and system that has not made them a priority. The Committee on Public Education, known as COPE, is a group of local civic and business leaders who have spent nearly 6 years studying the D.C. public schools. In its report a year ago is stated that too many remain too invested in the status quo. COPE also found that the District has not really tried reform. The kids in many District public schools continue to attempt to prepare for life in the next century in school buildings that were built in the first half of this century, and are in deplorable physical condition. Many schools lack the infrastructure to accommodate the same technology that the neighborhood grocery store employs. If we do not begin the process of educational reform and fiscal recovery by passing this conference agreement we can never hope to achieve the goals we, the Congress, set for ourselves last year.”