Kay Bailey Hutchison: “I think all of us have the same goal. Every one of us believes that public education is not meeting the standards we…”

“I think all of us have the same goal. Every one of us believes that public education is not meeting the standards we envisioned for this country when we established public education as the basis for democracy. The question is, How do we do better? We have been adding more money for education for the last 50 years, but we have not seen an improvement in test scores or in the actual quality of education of our children who are graduating from public schools. There are some public schools that are terrific. Those are the schools where parents and teachers and principals work together, where there is an openness, where the principal welcomes the parents to be a part of the process. But the schools that are failing are the schools that are afraid of accountability. There are teachers who do not want to have tests. Why don't they want to have tests? You can only assume they are concerned that they will not pass and that their students will not pass. That is not acceptable. We have to have accountability. We have to have information for parents. Parents must know which schools are failing.”