Frank Pallone: “What I find is that it is true that my constituents talk to me about the need to improve the public schools. They…”

“What I find is that it is true that my constituents talk to me about the need to improve the public schools. They recognize that there are problems. They recognize that the schools can do better, but they want them to do better. They want us as their elected officials to help in that regard. They do not want us to go for voucher systems which are basically going to drain the resources of the public schools and make it so that more and more people go to private school, whatever those schools happen to be, because the bottom line is that public schools historically have brought people together. They have been the equalizer, so to speak. They have been the vehicle for equal opportunity. We just cannot give up. Our constituents do not want us to give up. I think those who argue for vouchers and encourage voucher-type programs, they have basically given up on the public schools.”