Kendra S. Horn: “I am an educator. I have spent 30 years of my life in education, and I have long opposed vouchers generally, but I have…”

“I am an educator. I have spent 30 years of my life in education, and I have long opposed vouchers generally, but I have favored vouchers to build competition within public schools. Mr. Chairman, we are in such a crisis in this city that I will vote today to support vouchers. In the 1960's, I lived in the District. My two children went to desegregated public schools. They received a first rate education. But since the 1960's, we have had a failure in management, a failure in discipline, a failure in overcoming dilapidated quarters, and that is part of our problem. Mr. Chairman, we simply cannot let another generation of African-American students get out of school improperly educated so they do not have any opportunities in this society. I think it has come to the point where we have to face reality, and reality is to give a shock to that system and get the job done and get back to education.”