John Spratt: “I think the gentlewoman will agree that the essence of America's opportunity and the essence of opportunity is a good…”

“I think the gentlewoman will agree that the essence of America's opportunity and the essence of opportunity is a good education, and what we are seeing in this budget is diminishing money every year for education. For example, the signature program of the Bush administration was No Child Left Behind and many voted for it on the assumption that there would be, yes, more accountability, higher standards but there would also be more money. And now, 2006, the difference between what was authorized and expected to be committed to this program and what is actually being made available in this budget is about 8, $9 billion. The number the gentlewoman gave was a cumulative number since the adoption of the bill. In addition, in order to make what is provided for the additional Title I funding available, the Bush administration has proposed to cut or kill about 48 educational programs. A lot of them are small programs, but they are the Eisenhower Science and Math Program. We just had a blue ribbon commission say we need to be investing more in science and math education if we are going to make it to the future and sustain our style of living. So we see a faint hearted commitment in name, in slogan, No Child Left Behind, but the dollars do not follow the children to the extent that we all expected when we voted for the bill in the first place, no question about it.”