Lizzie Fletcher: “I think we all would probably agree that the education of our children is one of our greatest responsibilities. Folks…”

“I think we all would probably agree that the education of our children is one of our greatest responsibilities. Folks have said, well, it is not perfect. Of course it is not. But it is a very, very good product and a great step in the right direction. Does it please everyone? No, but I think it does an outstanding job to change the direction of education in this country, the first change we have had in probably about 30 years. The President has established the principles, and I think this bill meets those principles. There are a few things that we might work on as we amend it to try to give students more choice. But right now, the focus that I think we need to look at, too, is particularly on the educational gap that we have in this country. When I look at minorities and look at only 36 percent of minorities being able to read on grade level by the fourth grade, we have a problem, a serious problem, an unacceptable problem. I believe this legislation, this initiative by the President, will help address that problem, a problem that I would say has been largely ignored over the last several decades.”