Jason Chaffetz: “The bottom line is this program produces results. I like the variety of choices. And the Delegate has been a real…”

“The bottom line is this program produces results. I like the variety of choices. And the Delegate has been a real champion for charter schools, and I applaud her for that, I support her in that. But the reality is the scholarships that we are talking about here, the Opportunity scholarships, have yielded the best results with nearly 90 percent graduation rates and roughly 88 percent of the people then going on to college. Those are amazing statistics. But I have heard a lot of derogatory comments. I have heard everything from misguided, idiotic, disgraceful, weakens, underfunded. Underfunded? Underfunded? That is offensive to us from Utah. We happen to have the lowest per pupil funding in the entire United States. We are not proud of that fact. But the reality is we get roughly $6,500 per student, where in Washington, D.C. you get about $19,500 per student. It is not even close. And yet here we are championing and trying to help give more money, more resources, to what are underperforming students and giving them more choices. I guess one of the things you should consider is if the Congress does support this bill, does pass this bill, it is appropriated, would anybody on the Democratic side of the aisle actually recommend that the city not take the money? {time} 1700 If it is so idiotic, if it is so awful, if it is so derogatory, if it is so negative, then why not cut it off right now?…”