Mark Dayton: “Certainly we should have spent more. President Bush, to the extent he has spent more money--and he has--for special…”

“Certainly we should have spent more. President Bush, to the extent he has spent more money--and he has--for special education, boosting the Federal share from 12 to 16 percent, I give him credit for doing so. But I am not concerned about who is right. I am concerned about doing what is right. I am concerned about what is right for the schoolchildren of this Nation. I speak as a former schoolteacher who taught in a public school in New York City with 32 children in the classroom. It was the toughest job I ever had. I heard them say that the number of students in a classroom doesn't make any difference. Anybody who has tried to teach kids knows it makes a difference. I have been to 150 more schools in Minnesota, and anybody who doesn't know they are substandard and dangerously decrepit--they can cite all the statistics they want, but they are not looking at reality. Anybody who thinks the schools are over funded and that teachers who are averaging $40,000 nationwide are overpaid should spend a day, a week, or a year in a school and see what that job is about, see the kids from all different backgrounds and countries with different languages and capabilities--no wonder test scores are affected. Anybody who thinks we are over funding public education is off in another world. In Minnesota and in other States where funds are not and will not be available through property taxes and State taxes, the question is, Who will help us out?”