[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 114 (Wednesday, September 3, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H6721-H6722]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    THE TIME FOR TALK IS OVER ON EDUCATION REFORM AND BETTER SCHOOLS

  (Mr. HEFLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. HEFLEY. Mr. Speaker, politicians love to make a lot of noise 
about education reform and better schools. Ever since the report, ``A 
Nation At Risk,'' came out in 1983, calls for education reform have 
been part of every politician's repertoire, but nothing seems to 
change, and parents with children in bad schools have the impression 
that reformers are more interested in rearranging the deck chairs than 
they are about serious changes.
  Mr. Speaker, that is about to change. That is because more and more 
parents are insisting on real changes in the educational opportunities 
available to their children.
  Two ideas that will not go away are school choice and education 
savings accounts. They will not go away because both ideas are as 
American as apple pie, freedom to choose and savings for the children's 
future, and because it is awfully hard to argue with the results. With 
Milwaukee and Cleveland leading the way, school choice is the wave of 
the future, and education savings accounts will become part of that 
movement for greater educational opportunities.
  The time for talk is over; now is the time for real change.

[[Page H6722]]



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