Maria Cantwell: “I applaud Senator Murray for her consistent and passionate support for education throughout her political career. Her…”

“I applaud Senator Murray for her consistent and passionate support for education throughout her political career. Her advocacy for education has deep roots dating back to her early experience as a legislator working for more funding for schools in her own special experience in volunteering and schoolteaching children in the Shoreline area. This amendment is very important for the reasons some of my colleagues have said. It will provide the type of flexibility our school systems need. It is something that has been proven to work, and this is a program that works. Over the last 2 years, when we say a program has worked, we can show success. Thanks to this program, 1.7 million children across the country and over 23,000 schools are benefiting from smaller class size, primarily in the early grades when children most need personal attention from their teachers. Smaller class size not only has demonstrated an impact on increasing educational performance but also has helped to limit disciplinary problems, and, importantly, small class size has helped encourage greater parental participation in their children's education.”