[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 28 (Tuesday, March 5, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H1669]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    AN ARGUMENT FOR EDUCATION REFORM

  (Mr. CHABOT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, I am a former schoolteacher. I taught the 
seventh and eighth grades in an inner city school in Cincinnati. There 
is perhaps no greater argument for education reform than the school 
system right here in Washington, DC. The numbers and the statistics are 
shocking.
  The District spends 76 percent more per pupil than any other 
jurisdiction in the Nation. Yet its students rank last in eighth-grade 
math proficiency, last in fourth-grade math proficiency, and last in 
fourth-grade reading proficiency.
  Washington, DC teachers are among the best paid teachers in the 
entire country, and they have a very favorable student-teacher ratio. 
But even with these advantages, the District ranks 49th in on-time 
graduations. Despite these shortcomings, the liberal special interests 
continue to block any meaningful reform of Washington schools, 
including school choice.
  Let us improve educational opportunities and the lives of the 
children here in Washington and across the Nation. Even more 
importantly, let us pass the Back to Basics Education Act, which takes 
the power and the money away from the bureaucrats here in Washington 
and gives it back to parents and teachers and local school boards where 
it ought to be.

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