David Obey: “This Republican bill puts irresponsible tax breaks before critical funding for education. We need to invest in our…”

“This Republican bill puts irresponsible tax breaks before critical funding for education. We need to invest in our schools so that our children receive the best education in the world and are prepared for working in a 21st century economy. We must expect the best from our schools, then give them the tools that they need to succeed. Smaller classes help students to get individualized attention, discipline, and the instruction that they need. But the Republican bill repeals efforts to hire new teachers to reduce those class sizes and will not make classrooms the places where our students can learn and our teachers can teach. The most important thing that we can do for our children's education is to make sure that teachers are highly qualified in their subjects and well trained in new technology. Yet this Republican bill cuts teacher training and recruitment by $1 billion. The bill cuts reading instruction and tutoring for 100,000 children and math improvement programs for another 650,000 youngsters. It cuts after-school programs by 40 percent; programs that serve 1.6 million children in more than 3,000 schools across this country.”