Steve Pearce: “when we begin to look at the growth of jobs, we have to understand the importance of education in this country. No Child…”

“when we begin to look at the growth of jobs, we have to understand the importance of education in this country. No Child Left Behind is one of the dramatic things, dramatic policies that have been issued. It is a reform into the education system which literally says we are not going to leave any child behind. The President has dramatically increased funding, regardless of what our friends across the aisle say. Under President Clinton, the spending on education through the Federal Education Department was about $27 billion. Under President Bush, the funding has increased to $60 billion, over a 100 percent increase, and yet somehow we get on the floor day after day that we are underfunding education. Our friends especially like to talk about the way that we are not funding IDEA, our individuals with disabilities; and that has such a dramatic difference in previous funding levels under this President, that it is important to talk about funding levels.”