Jim Matheson: “the House is going to be taking up the issue of education over the next couple of weeks, and I thought it would be…”

“the House is going to be taking up the issue of education over the next couple of weeks, and I thought it would be important to communicate some of the thoughts that I have learned, having spent a significant amount of time in my district over the Easter recess talking to teachers and superintendents, talking to students, and talking to parents. I can say, I come from a State that is unique. Utah's needs are not often represented in national discussions on education, and I think it is important to point out some of the unique characteristics in my State and how national policy may affect that. I represent the State with the lowest per-pupil expenditure in the United States. I represent the State with the largest student-teacher ratio in the United States. Utah schools are struggling to keep up. The State Office of Education estimates Utah will add over 100,000 new students over the next 10 years. It is going to require 124 new schools to be built in my State. These challenges that I mention, these challenges we face in the State of Utah, make the Federal-State relationship very critical. We believe in Utah, and I firmly believe, that education is fundamentally a State and local issue. So as we talk about education policy here in Congress, I want to make sure that we talk about it in the context where we are not creating Federal programs with a number of strings attached. It is important that we maintain local control.”