Thomas Mott Osborne: “I certainly support H.R. 1 as it goes to conference. I think there were some graphic reasons for the reform. It is my…”

“I certainly support H.R. 1 as it goes to conference. I think there were some graphic reasons for the reform. It is my understanding that the Federal Government has spent $80 billion on education over the last 10 years; yet we saw absolutely no improvement in dropout rates, no improvement in test scores, less performance in general, and roughly 60 percent of our fourth graders are not able to read at an adequate level. So I think H.R. 1 really represents significant improvement in educational policy. It does provide better measurement of students, more accountability for schools, and certainly greater local control. However, I would like to also underscore the idea that the best educational policy alone is not going to be the whole answer. And the reason I say this is that we can have the best teachers, the best curriculum, the best buildings, facilities; and still, if there is a high percentage of dysfunctional students from dysfunctional situations, we will have a very difficult time educating them because, number one, they will not get to school; and, number two, if they do get to school, they are not going to be in a very good frame of mind to learn anything.”