Judd Gregg: “I have spoken at some length prior to this time on my concern for the Murray amendment. I know it is well directed and…”

“I have spoken at some length prior to this time on my concern for the Murray amendment. I know it is well directed and well intentioned, but it fails to appreciate the fact that local schools have a variety of needs for their teachers. Some schools need more teachers, so they want to hire them. Some need better qualified teachers, so they will want to improve the ability of the teachers who are in the classroom. Some may have high-quality teachers they want to keep in the classroom but are being attracted to some other private sector activity or public sector activity, so they need to pay the teachers more. Some classrooms just need more technical support to assist the teacher or teaching aids such as computers or some sort of monitor capability that allows the student to interface with the teacher in a way that the teacher can guide them. We don't know the answer to which one of those teacher tools are needed, whether it is more teachers, better teachers, better paid teachers, or better support for teachers. Therefore, this bill addresses the issue by giving the local school districts the option of choosing, of taking the teacher money and the Eisenhower grant money, merging it and saying to local schools: You make the decision on teachers, if the money must be spent on teachers. You make the decision as to how you can best improve your classrooms.”