Political Quotes

“I come to the floor to speak about an amendment that I am offering with Senator Kirk, Senator Brown, and Senator Baldwin, which would establish an accountability mechanism for student access to the core resources necessary for learning. First, I wish to thank Senators Kirk, Brown, Baldwin, and others for helping with this very important matter. More than 60 years after the landmark decision of Brown v. Board of Education, one of the greatest challenges still facing this Nation is stemming the tide of rising inequality. We have seen the rich--in fact, really the very rich--get richer while middle-class and low-income families have lost ground. We see disparities in opportunities starting at birth and growing over a lifetime. With more than one in five school-age children living in families in poverty and roughly half of our public school population eligible for free or reduced-priced lunches because they come from low-income families, we cannot afford nor should we tolerate a public education system that fails to provide the resources and opportunities for the children who need them the most. When President Johnson signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act into law 50 years ago, he described education as the ``only valid passport from poverty.'' He noted: From our very beginnings as a nation, we have felt a fierce commitment to the ideal of education for everyone. It fixed itself into our democratic creed.…”