Jeff Merkley actually said...

"Our skills as a Nation, as they relate to skills in other countries around the world, are slipping."

"So what is it that kind of catches your students' imagination in the sense that it is relevant and not just some dry thing that they will 'never use'?"

"In your elementary schools, do the teachers talk about each student each week with each other?"

"the funds being shifted from, if you will, formula grants into competitive grants means that now the school district has to become expert grant writers."