Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, 50 years ago, in the Central Texas one-room schoolhouse where he had studied, President Lyndon B. Johnson first signed this Federal aid to education act into law. Through its first title, this law addresses inequality in educational opportunity. Title I has played a vital role in helping schools so that economically disadvantaged students can work their way into the middle class. Today, the same reactionary forces that first opposed President Johnson want to undermine this important civil rights law. Today's bill is supported by the same ideologues who have opposed the very concept of any Federal aid to education, who in the past disparaged on this floor public schools as being ``government schools,'' and who have even tried to abolish the Department of Education. Well, this Student Success Act is really a ``Student Regress Act'' or a ``How Little Can We Do in Washington Act.'' For San Antonio ISD, for Austin, and for so many other schools, this bill means less Federal support at a time when our schools are asked to do even more. In States like Texas, where school inequality is severe, the State leadership has demonstrated time and time again that Federal education block grants only lead to blockheaded decisions. ``Block grant'' is an apt term because it is designed to block access to achieve educational excellence in our public schools.…”