Ron Kind: “I wanted to also thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Baca), my good friend, for his energy and tireless effort in…”

“I wanted to also thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Baca), my good friend, for his energy and tireless effort in promoting educational programs here in Congress during his term. But I, for one, was very, very happy during the last campaign that there was so much discussion and focus on education issues whether it was Vice President Gore or Governor Bush. I think it elevated the sense of urgency that many of us feel in regards to our education investments as a Nation, but I just wanted to add during this conversation tonight a very important piece of the puzzle as we move forward on reauthorizing the elementary and secondary education bill in the Committee on Education and Workforce this year, and that is virtually every school district throughout the Nation is facing a common challenge, and that is the rising costs of providing a quality education to students with special needs, special education costs.”