Political Quotes

“I rise in support of H.R. 4409, the Teacher Training Enhancement Act, and I would like to thank the gentleman from Georgia for his leadership on this issue. The bill before us complements the No Child Left Behind Act and will help to improve the quality and accountability of our nation's teacher preparation programs. In exchange for significant new funding, the No Child Left Behind Act calls on states to place a highly qualified teacher in every public school classroom by the 2005-2006 school year. We can all agree highly qualified teachers play a pivotal role in the successful education of our nation's children, and those children deserve nothing less than the best. Congress has kept its word to increase funding to help ensure teachers can become highly qualified--in fact, funding for teacher quality grants increased by 35 percent in the first year of No Child Left Behind alone. We're providing the resources, and this bill will build on that effort by ensuring our teachers are highly qualified and prepared to teach. There is no doubt highly qualified teachers are essential if we are to provide every child in America with a high quality education. In fact, the future competitiveness of our workforce is directly dependent on the quality of education in our schools. Today's students are tomorrow's workers, and highly qualified teachers play a vital role in providing our students with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.”