Political Quotes

“as the parent of a third grader in public schools in Oregon, I am absolutely committed to smaller class sizes. But the best way to do that is to fund the special education mandate, not to create more federal mandates and programs. Coming from Oregon, which is one of the ed flex pilot States, I can tell my colleagues that our local parents, teachers and school boards can make the best decisions for our children, but it is time Washington kept its word and funded its mandates. I think unfunded federal mandates have done quite enough harm already to our public schools. It is time to expand ed flex all Americans. It is time to allow local schools to make their own decision about how best to spend Federal education dollars. That only makes sense. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the ed flex legislation that will be on the House floor later today.”