[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 79 (Wednesday, June 17, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H4638]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       SUPPORT BETTER EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR CHILDREN

  (Mr. ROGAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. ROGAN. Mr. Speaker, the defenders of the education status quo are 
on the wrong side of history. Each year these people ask for more money 
for the same failed programs that gave us such poor education results 
in the first place. Parents are fed up with broken promises and the 
lack of accountability that has been the hallmark of these demands for 
more and more money. Parents and reformers are demanding change. 
Charter schools, school choice and education IRAs are the wave of the 
future. Yet these reforms are fought tooth and nail by the special 
interests and their defenders in Congress.
  But these bureaucracy lovers will ultimately fail. They will fail 
because parents who care about the education of their children will no 
longer accept failure no matter how much money is wasted on the 
failure.
  Mr. Speaker, parents and their children who desire more educational 
opportunities are looking to Congress to pass the Coverdell legislation 
and vote for better educational opportunities for their children. That 
is the mandate and the obligation of this Congress, and I urge my 
colleagues to follow it.

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