[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 79 (Wednesday, June 17, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H4639]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                HOW WE CAN BEST SERVE AMERICA'S STUDENTS

  (Mr. WYNN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WYNN. Mr. Speaker, good morning. I rise today to talk about the 
issue of education and the debate that is evolving here in the House 
about how we can best serve American students. The best seems to be two 
areas of thought. The Republicans today and tomorrow will talk about 
another program to aid private school education.

                              {time}  1015

  The Democrats again are saying we need to support public education. 
This is really ironic when we think of the fact that 90 percent of 
American students attend public school. It would seem only logical that 
we would put our money where the students are.
  However, that is not the case on the Republican side. They are 
advocating so-called savings accounts for education that would allow 
tax-free contributions into private schools. That is not the way we can 
help American education.
  The Democrats have a very simple and straightforward approach. We 
suggest that what we need to do is improve public schools. We need to 
reduce class size by providing Federal assistance so that we can hire 
more teachers. Sixty percent of Americans surveyed say the Federal 
Government needs to spend more money on public education. We can hire 
100,000 new teachers, we can reduce class size, we can modernize our 
schools.
  We need to put our money where the students are, and that is in 
public education.

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