[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 150 (Friday, October 31, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H9804]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 WHAT A-PLUS ACCOUNTS ARE REALLY ABOUT

  (Mr. GUTKNECHT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, it is against the House rules to question 
the motives of other Members. But in the last several days, we heard 
our Democratic colleagues saying that the reason we want to pass A-Plus 
accounts is to harm public education. Does anybody really believe that?
  Eighty-eight percent of America's schoolchildren attend public 
schools. I went to public schools my entire life. Two of my children 
graduated from public schools. I believe in public schools. What A-Plus 
accounts are really about is giving the same kinds of choices to poor 
families, like those here in Washington DC, that wealthier families 
have all across America. What is wrong with giving American families, 
American schoolchildren choices? That is what this is all about. It is 
about who decides.
  Some of our Democratic friends wanted to have bigger bureaucracies 
here in Washington. They want more of the decisions made in Washington. 
But look at the Washington schools themselves. We are spending over 
$10,000 per student per year on the schools here in Washington, and 
they are arguably among the worst schools in the country.
  What we want to do is allow those parents, whether in Washington, DC, 
or Baltimore or Minneapolis, to have the same kinds of choices that the 
wealthy people have.

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