[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16123]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               EDUCATION

  (Mr. SCHAFFER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SCHAFFER. Mr. Speaker, most children in America are back in 
school this week, and parents in most areas have been provided more 
information about their schools and their child's academic performance 
than ever before.
  Earlier this year, Education Secretary Rod Paige talked about the 
need for more education options. He said, ``The new annual tests will 
provide parents with much more information about the quality of their 
children's schools, but if parents can't act on that information, they 
can't really hold their schools accountable, and the schools will not 
have a real incentive to improve.''
  This week, the Committee on Ways and Means, in fact today, will pass 
the Back-to-School Tax Relief Act that gives parents options to act on 
the information about the quality of their child's school. The bill 
gives low-income parents an above-the-line tax deduction of up to 
$3,000 for almost any educational expense, including tutoring and 
tuition at private schools.
  Parents deserve this freedom. They deserve the freedom to act in the 
best interests of their kids. As America's elementary and secondary 
students go back to school this month, I urge Congress to quickly pass 
the Back-to-School Tax Relief Act, H.R. 5193.

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