Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize the need for us to prohibit the physical restraining of young children as a form of discipline in schools. Shockingly, in the 2017 through 2018 school year, nearly 71,000 elementary school-aged children were physically restrained. Even worse, 80 percent of the restrained children were kids with disabilities, some younger than 5 years old, even though they only make up 13 percent of the student population. In Texas, 91 percent of all reported restraints are experienced by children with disabilities. Regrettably, children who are Latino and Black are at much higher risk of being restrained. Since 2020, nearly 20 fatalities have occurred because of poor restraining techniques and children's bodies simply being too small to endure this form of discipline. This is simply heartbreaking and is totally unacceptable. It doesn't appear to be slowing down. Just this month, Moesha Baker, a mother from the Houston Independent School District, received a letter from her 4-year-old son's elementary school and was told that he had been restrained at school. Ms. Baker learned 2 days after the incident that this restraining had been unjustified and that the teacher was on administrative leave. This is a very deeply troubling case. Fortunately, her son was not physically hurt, but think of the emotional scars that he must endure. This is, again, totally unacceptable.…”