David Price: “I am here to deliver a message from the North Carolina General Assembly. It is a bipartisan, nearly unanimous message…”

“I am here to deliver a message from the North Carolina General Assembly. It is a bipartisan, nearly unanimous message from our State House: Stop underfunding our schools. Last week, 52 Republicans joined all voting Democrats in the North Carolina House of Representatives in passing a resolution that, ``urges the President of the United States and Congress to make a serious commitment to improving the quality of the Nation's public schools by substantially increasing the funding for the No Child Left Behind Act, the Higher Education Act, the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, and other education-related programs.'' This resounding call from both sides of the aisle in my State is a sign that North Carolinians are exasperated with a President and a Congress that refuse to follow through on their commitments. They are simply fed up, Mr. Speaker. By consistently underfunding No Child Left Behind, the Federal Government has failed to hold up its share of the bargain it made with our schools when No Child Left Behind was signed into law 4 years ago. In passing the law, the government promised to help improve failing schools by targeting the areas that needed support and providing that assistance. By failing to come through on promised funding, the administration has turned No Child Left Behind into a program that punishes our schools instead of supporting them. Two of the resolution's clauses tell the story more fully.…”