Byron Dorgan: “once again I think we have a philosophical difference here. I don't see that parents, teachers, schools, and local…”

“once again I think we have a philosophical difference here. I don't see that parents, teachers, schools, and local officials are not free now. They are certainly free now to develop their own programs, raise their own money, and run their own schools. They do that. They are free to do that. They do it every day in every way. The local school in my hometown of 300 people is run by the local school board. They raise the money in the local tax district. The school board hires the teachers. They decide with the State government about the curriculum. They are perfectly free to do that, and do it every day. The Senator from Washington indicated this is not a debate about abolishing the Department of Education. He is absolutely correct about that. This, however, represents a seed from the same garden. That is why I mentioned that in the 1996 Republican National Party platform it says: "That is why we will abolish the Department of Education and Federal meddling in our schools." It is a seed from the same garden that says, by the way, if there is any money going back from the Federal Government, let's make sure that there is no purpose for that money; let's make sure it goes back in the form only of general aid and not some kind of assistance, as has historically been the case for compensatory education for poor children.”