Robert Torricelli: “Mr. Chairman, last year I introduced H.R. 1337, legislation which provided competitive grants for public secondary…”

“Mr. Chairman, last year I introduced H.R. 1337, legislation which provided competitive grants for public secondary schools wishing to increase their academic year. Mr. Chairman, on this floor we debate the question of funding in education. It is, of course, not only a question of funds. Our students can do no more than we challenge them to do. America has the shortest school day and the shortest school year in the industrialized world. The language that was included in the elementary and secondary schools reauthorization bill provided for a Federal program to allow school districts to begin experimenting with a longer school year. That legislation included an explicit authorization for $90 million for fiscal year 1995 and such sums as may have been necessary in the ensuing 4 years to begin experimentation with a longer school year. In title II of the bill we are currently debating, $842 million is authorized for school improvement programs.”