Patty Murray: “we came together several years ago in a bipartisan manner, both sides of the Senate, Republican and Democrat, and said…”

“we came together several years ago in a bipartisan manner, both sides of the Senate, Republican and Democrat, and said we have made a great accomplishment, we have targeted Federal funds to a program that we know will work, reducing class size. Studies show it, from the Educational Testing Service in 1997 to the Star study in 1989, to the Wisconsin State study, to the New York study which I will read to you very quickly. A teacher said: Now that I have seen the difference a small class makes, I don't want to go back to being a policeman. I think that says it for all of us. We know in first, second, and third grades, if we reduce the class sizes, our kids will learn the basics--math, reading, and science--that they will go on to college, there will be fewer discipline problems, and we will have accomplished something great. Senator Harkin has been out in his State, as many of us have, in the classrooms that are a direct recipient of our class size money. I challenge my colleagues to do the same because when you do, you can then walk away and say: I did something realistic and I can see it in the faces of these kids. We have the opportunity now to continue that program, and I urge this amendment's adoption.”