[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 7 (Thursday, February 5, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H338]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        NATIONAL TESTING IS NOT IN THE BEST INTEREST OF AMERICA

  (Mr. JONES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. JONES. Madam Speaker, last year, this Congress made great strides 
toward keeping the Federal bureaucracy out of our children's 
classrooms. Unfortunately, the administration is now trying to reverse 
our progress and to put Federal bureaucrats back in local classrooms by 
implementing a national testing program that Congress has already once 
clearly rejected.
  I have said it before, and I will say it again: National testing is 
not in the best interest of this country.
  The key to providing America's children with the best possible 
education is to put control in the hands of the parents, teachers and 
communities, not in the hands of Federal bureaucrats who are hundreds 
and even thousands of miles away.
  For the sake of our children, I hope those of us who believe in 
parents and teachers, instead of bureaucrats, will pass H.R. 2846 to 
prohibit Federal testing, without the authorization of Congress.

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