Robert Torricelli: “Mr. President, I think there is a growing awareness in our country that the status quo in education is no longer good…”

“Mr. President, I think there is a growing awareness in our country that the status quo in education is no longer good enough, that there is a need for fundamental reform in the financing and the standards and our approach to educating our children in the grade school and high school levels. This legislation offers the promise of a new beginning in how we approach educational reform. In a time of limited budgets, as we seek to balance the Federal budget, we are marshaling private resources. At a time when families have been separated from the challenge of educating their own children, we are challenging families to get involved again. At a time when some are fighting between private education and public education, we seek to help both. Senator Coverdell and I do this in what I think is an imaginative approach, what really is no more than an extension of what President Clinton proposed to do and achieve with his HOPE scholarships for colleges, we do for high schools and grade schools.”