[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 149 (Thursday, October 30, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H9733-H9734]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    SAY ``NO'' TO VOUCHER EXPERIMENT

  (Mr. McGOVERN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, the House is scheduled to vote today on a 
radical experiment with our Nation's schools. The Republican leadership 
wants to use school vouchers to take

[[Page H9734]]

badly needed funding from our public schools and divert it into private 
and religious schools. Make no mistake about it, this is a direct 
attack on public schools in America. At a time when school enrollment 
is soaring and Federal education funding is more and more scarce, 
Republicans want to undermine the public education system in this 
country.
  Mr. Speaker, the Republican leadership's school voucher plan is part 
of a grander scheme to privatize K through 12 education, which could 
shut down neighborhood schools across the country. From California to 
Missouri to my own State of Massachusetts, voters have spoken loud and 
clear. Experimenting with school vouchers at the expense of public 
education is the wrong path to real education reform.
  Democrats believe that we need to be improving public education in 
America by repairing our crumbling schools, reducing overcrowding, 
training more qualified teachers, wiring classrooms to the Internet, 
raising standards, and providing a safe and drug-free learning 
environment. I urge my colleagues to vote against school vouchers and 
for improving public education in America.

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