Rob Andrews: “Mr. Chairman, when the majority in this House became the majority in this House, one of the first things that it brought…”

“Mr. Chairman, when the majority in this House became the majority in this House, one of the first things that it brought to the floor was the idea of a Federal mandate-Federal pay rule and statute, and it passed with great enthusiasm from the other side of the aisle and from some of us on this side of the aisle. Several years later, the majority and the minority working together passed the No Child Left Behind Act. It contains many mandates on schools around our country. Three of the most important ones are these: Third-graders through eighth-graders in every school and every town in the country are going to be tested every year on various subjects. That is mandated. Another mandate is that by the 2005-2006 school year, every classroom must have a highly qualified teacher in that classroom teaching in field. Mandated. Another important mandate is that if a school fails to meet what is called adequate yearly progress, we are responsible for coming up with tutors and remedial programs, after-school programs, various tools to help those children learn. Mandated. Wise. Another important mandate is that paraprofessionals must have at least an associate's degree or the equivalent thereof by some date certain, which will require a significant investment in the training and education of paraprofessionals. Mandated. I support these standards and these improvements.”