Two plus two is four. The test in the eighth grade math and fourth grade reading is basic skills offered to the states and the school districts in a high, challenging, rigorous, voluntary test. Well, you know you have a problem in the country by sample tests that Bill was talking about, and you might know you have trouble in a state or in a school district or the 50 percent he was talking about. That s not fair to each child. What we re talking about is measuring each child on these basic skills so their parents will know how their child stands, not how people in the community stand, or a particular region.
Every parent is entitled to know that.
And I agree with Bill 100 percent on that. We worked together on trying to improve things. We ve significantly added resources in education for the years that I ve been here, and we ve worked very well on that and want to continue that. This would point out needs, specific needs, that then we could focus resources in to respond to. Congressman, the President said today in this talk at the school in Maryland that politics should stay out of this, suggesting that politics has, in fact, entered this.