William Bradley: “I rise in support of the low-income school choice demonstration amendment. Choice may not be the panacea for all our…”

“I rise in support of the low-income school choice demonstration amendment. Choice may not be the panacea for all our Nation's education ills, but we cannot afford not to take an honest look at whether more options would help kids who today are trapped in the worst schools in our poorest areas. When we first took up this amendment 2 years ago, I thought about the schools and the families in the most desperate and impoverished areas of New Jersey, such as the cities of Paterson, Jersey City, and Newark. I asked people then, and I have asked them more recently, are those school systems better or worse than they were 15 years ago, when I came to the U.S. Senate? Worse, I was told, and my own eyes confirm that sad fact. There are schools where crime, disorder, and drugs so dominate the daily lesson plan that there is hardly time to begin dealing with real learning. For 15 years, while we have stood here debating what to do with the public schools, we have lost a generation. To save the next generation, we need to try anything that might work. We need to try anything that gives families that want their kids to learn and grow an immediate option, a way out. We need to be imaginative about using resources for education that are already there and can make an immediate difference. I strongly support Goals 2000, and share the commitment to systemic reform in our public schools.”