[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 80 (Thursday, June 18, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H4725]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      AMERICA NEEDS SCHOOL CHOICE

  (Mr. BARR of Georgia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BARR of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, in my home State of Georgia, a 
record number of high school juniors, over 17,000, failed this year to 
pass a basic skills test as a prerequisite for graduation. This week 
the House of Representatives took steps to respond to this problem by 
passing a resolution condemning the deplorable practice of promoting 
unqualified students for social reasons. This must be viewed as only 
the first step.
  We must follow it by taking creative steps to increase parental 
choice and involvement in education such as encouraging charter 
schools, establishing education savings accounts, protecting the rights 
of parents to home school their children, and exploring the notion of 
school vouchers.
  For decades, teachers, students and Washington bureaucrats have tried 
to shape our education system, yet their involvement has resulted in 
higher and higher spending and lower and lower performance. It is time 
to turn things around. The fact is, bureaucrats and big labor do not, 
cannot and should not educate our children. Teachers and parents do, 
should and must.
  If we are really serious about improving education, let us not worry 
about schools, let us worry about teaching the hearts and minds of our 
students with parents and teachers, with the best interests of those 
students in mind.

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