James M. Jeffords: “I rise in somewhat reluctant opposition to the amendment. I do so primarily because this has been a very, very difficult…”

“I rise in somewhat reluctant opposition to the amendment. I do so primarily because this has been a very, very difficult area. In fact, I believe it was this area, more than anything else, which was in much different form, which caused the defeat of the conference report which came back after the last attempt to pass similar legislation. However, we have worked tediously since that time to make sure there would be a compromise and an agreement on the opportunity-to-learn portions of the bill, so that it could be accepted at least a majority of the Members of the Senate. I hope and believe that we have done that. We have turned aside amendments to strengthen the opportunity-to-learn standards. We are now turning aside attempts to weaken them. And now, the ultimate is being offered and that is to strike the whole section. I think it is important to keep in mind why we are here. This is a crisis time. It was pointed out to us in 1983. That was more than 10 years ago. Here it is, 10 years later and we are just getting around to establishing the goals. Time is running out. In fact, it has run out in a lot of respects. However, we have to deal with the situation as we see it.”