Political Quotes

“I have two children that went to public schools and they did very well. They did not come to D.C., but they went to schools in my own district in urban Houston. This is a good bipartisan bill. It raises the authorization levels to amounts that we hope to be able to match, and I hope that next year we will do it and this year, with the appropriations. Vouchers go the opposite way of the intent of this bill. It takes money away from public schools. Public education is not a monopoly. We as parents already have that choice. The statement I heard that there has been a monopoly for 35 years and the failure of the public school system is outrageous. Who do we think has been running this country for the last 35 years? The 95 percent of the people who went to public schools in this country. The product of our public schools are the ones who run it. This amendment is a slap in the face of thousands of educators and parents who believe in public schools every day and work hard. I have been to every public school in my district and I will take my colleagues to the depths of the inner city in Houston and show them quality education in the public schools. There is another country western song my colleague may remember. The teachers and the parents and everyone who works hard every day to make our public schools work, they may want to say, ``take this job and shove it.''”