[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 23328]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 23328]]

           H.R. 4094, AMERICA'S BETTER CLASSROOM ACT OF 2000

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Baca) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BACA. Mr. Speaker, the challenge confronting us today and the 
future of education in America is before us. We, as a Nation, must put 
education as the number one priority if we are to meet the needs of the 
21st century, if we are to look at where our children are going to be. 
We need to invest in education. We need to make sure that class size 
reduction is in our classroom.
  We need to make sure that we do modernization in our classroom. If we 
look at today's society, if we look at where we were, many years ago 
many of us were very fortunate, that when we went to school, class 
sizes were small, we were able to have the relationship between 25 and 
one ratio. In today's classroom, we have 45 to one ratio. It is 
ridiculous.
  How can we have our children learn? How can we get them to progress 
and how can we hold accountability when we have so many students in our 
classroom? We have to put a high priority, that is why we have to look 
at modernization. We have to look at classroom reduction. If not, what 
is going to happen to our children? And if we look at modernization, we 
also have to look to create an atmosphere that is good for our children 
as well.
  When they go into the classroom, we want to make sure that the 
faucets work well, that there is no broken window, there are no leaking 
roofs. If we look at technology, we want to make sure that everybody is 
competitive, that our children and others have the same opportunity 
that other individuals have. It can only happen if we fund education at 
the highest level.
  What we also have to make sure that we do is, if we have 100-some 
teachers that we have the accountability. If it is not there, what is 
going to happen to us? What is going to happen to our children? Our 
children are at stake. Our future is at stake. They are our future. 
They are our future taxpayers. They are the ones that are going to 
guide our Nation, but it is our responsibility to provide for them; and 
if not, we fail America, we fail our children.
  Let me tell say, Mr. Speaker, we have to invest more, and the agenda 
by the Democratic Party right now and the bipartisan H.R. 4094 deals 
with a lot of these problems right now, deals with the classroom size, 
deals with modernization, deals with teacher training, deals with 
incentives, deals with tax breaks; and at the same time we also have to 
provide incentives for students to go on to our community colleges and 
our State colleges.
  In California alone, we have over 6 million students in K through 12. 
If we do not begin to take steps to build additional schools, what is 
going to happen to our children there? And these children that are 
ready to go on to a 4-year institution or community colleges where they 
are overcrowded, what is going to happen to them? Are they going to 
have access to our community colleges or State colleges or 
universities?
  The answer is no. That is why we also have to provide a tax incentive 
and tax break and a tax tuition to make sure our children have that 
opportunity. We all have to come together. This is not a partisan 
issue. This is a bipartisan issue. This is about America. This is about 
our children. This is about investment.
  Let me tell my colleagues, when I hear teachers telling me that they 
are out buying supplies because we are not providing the funding. My 
son is a teacher at a junior high school and he is going out and 
spending money. He just became a teacher this year, and let me tell my 
colleagues he is going out and buying supplies. They should not have to 
buy supplies. We should fund education. We are not investing enough in 
education.
  The Republican Party plan right now does not invest enough money in 
education. We have to put more money in education. It is an investment 
in the future and at the same time we have to deal with Head Start 
programs, preschool programs, after-school programs, provide the 
incentives so our children have that opportunity to learn in an 
environment that is conducive. How can someone go to a school in our 
ghettos and some of our other areas where they are not even fixed and 
they are not compared to other institutions, and they look at TV and 
they see a modern school in that area and they say the environment is 
great?
  Well, teachers have to also be motivated. They are motivated when 
they know they have good schools, they have the equipment, they have 
the tools and the instruments to teach our children. It can only happen 
if we provide those funds.
  Mr. Speaker, we have a lot of work ahead of us. We have got a big 
agenda ahead of us right now, but we have to come together; and if we 
do not come together, America will lose.

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