Political Quotes

“This week marks the 90th anniversary of American Education Week where we honor our teachers, education support professionals, parents, and substitute teachers for their dedication and service to our children and to our schools. My mother was a high school English teacher. Born in Mansfield, GA, a town of about 500 people, she taught in the era of segregation in central Florida. Raising my two older brothers and me in Mansfield, OH, she taught in an era of a growing American middle class. As have teachers throughout our history, she taught her students and her sons that education is the gateway to opportunity, that it can integrate a divided and segregated Nation and, in the process, create a more prosperous nation. When our Nation needs our teachers the most--at a time when our economy needs our schools to succeed--we must remind ourselves of the importance of educators. I would add that the Presiding Officer is known in this body as one of the premier educators in our country, before he came to the Senate, as superintendent of the Denver schools. Unfortunately, many of our educators are working in substandard school buildings with leaky roofs and poor air quality and malfunctioning HVAC systems. The average U.S. public school building is 40 years old--obviously, many are much older--impairing teacher effectiveness and student achievement.…”