[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 52 (Thursday, May 4, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H2160]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   STATE CONTROL OF PUBLIC EDUCATION

  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time of 
the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe).
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentlewoman from 
North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I am a very, very proud cosponsor of H.R. 
3499. I served for 12 years on a school board in Wataugwa County in 
North Carolina and often felt very oppressed by Federal rules and 
regulations. When I was on the school board, and even after that, I 
have checked and double-checked and about 7 percent of the money that 
North Carolina schools get comes from the Federal Government, but about 
99 percent of the rules and regulations that come into the school 
system come from the Federal Government.
  I think passing H.R. 3499 would be one of the best things this 
Congress or any Congress could do. It would force State legislatures 
and thereby force school boards and county commissioners to make a 
decision as to whether or not they want to take the Federal money and 
the rules and regulations that go along with it.

                              {time}  1530

  It would take us out of the business of saying that they have to do 
this. I think that it is high time that we change the way we do 
business between the Federal Government and the State governments.
  I want to just remind us, and my colleague has paraphrased the words 
of the Constitution, but I do not think that we can repeat the 
Constitution too often. I know there are a lot of young people in the 
audience and some not so young people in the gallery today. I hope you 
will take the time to read your Constitution at least once a year, and 
probably more often than that.
  I want to read the preamble because my colleague from Texas keeps 
mentioning the first three words, ``we the people.'' That is extremely 
important.
  I am so proud that my grandson recently has memorized this. He is 
only in the third grade, but I am so pleased that his teacher has 
encouraged that.
  This is what the preamble says: ``We the people of the United States, 
in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure 
domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the 
general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and 
our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United 
States of America.''
  Now there are lots of important words. Every word in this 
Constitution is important. Every single word is important, and the 
Framers were extremely careful about how they wrote the Constitution. 
But the important words to me in terms of the 10th amendment are 
``provide for the common defense.'' That is the number one goal and the 
number one role of the Federal Government.
  That is what we are here for, to provide for the common defense. It 
is our job to make sure that this country stays free. If we do that, 
everything else will fall into place.
  Now, what the 10th amendment says is the powers not delegated to the 
United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it to the States 
are reserved to the States respectively or to the people.
  Now I am not reading anything in between and I am not reading 
afterwards, but you will not find that the Constitution gave any power 
to the Federal Government for education. There is no role for the 
Federal Government in education except as has been alluded to, to make 
sure that we take care of persons who are disabled, and some people 
might even argue with that issue.
  But I think it is extremely important that we return to the way it 
used to be in this country and that is localities were very much in 
charge and in power regarding what happens with education.
  I am a person who came up through the public education system, as 
poor as any person you can imagine, but I got an excellent education. 
There was not unlimited dollars there when I came through school, but I 
got a good education.
  It is my contention that part of the problem with our educational 
system is we have too much Federal Government intervention. We need 
extremely high-quality education in this country if we are going to 
compete with the rest of the world, and we are competing with the rest 
of the world. And I believe we can do a great deal to restore high-
quality education at the local level if we get the Federal Government 
out of education at the Federal level, or we insist that the States and 
the localities make not just conscious decisions to take the Federal 
money but very deliberate decisions to take Federal money.
  I applaud the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Culberson) for introducing 
this bill and for allowing me to sign on as a cosponsor and say we need 
to pass H.R. 3499.

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