Joseph T. Burns: “I am pleased to cosponsor and support this Ed-Flexibility Act. I want to thank our good friend from Tennessee, who a…”

“I am pleased to cosponsor and support this Ed-Flexibility Act. I want to thank our good friend from Tennessee, who a couple of years ago really elevated the awareness on the importance of this issue. The report that he prepared stands to be read by everybody. I don't know if everyone visits schools when they go home. But for the week that I was home a couple of weeks ago, I had two or three chances to go into some high school assemblies and to talk with some teachers. The problem they are incurring is that they teach for a half-day and then they spend the rest of that day on paperwork compliance. I think this is a very first step where teachers and parents and principals can make some very vital decisions on the education they want to give our children. All 50 States have the ability to grant individual school districts waivers from selected Federal education requirements, like title I--there is no lack of support in this body for title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act--and even the Carl D. Perkins Vocational Act and the Applied Technology Education Act.”