Here are some of the educational spending and reforms that I supported last year as your representative. The debate between Democrats and Republicans is NOT about whether education is important. Every responsible person knows that giving our children the very best education possible is the key to our country's economic and cultural health in the century that is now dawning. What does need to be debated is who should make basic educational decisions - Washington bureaucrats or parents, teachers and local school boards. On that question there's no doubt where I stand.
Education is, and always has been, the business of state and local government.
That does not mean that the federal government cannot play a role. The federal government should support quality education efforts that produce results, but the federal government should not usurp control of public education in America. Basic decisions on how to spend the money should remain in the home, the neighborhood school and the local school board. If you have a question about your child's education, it's much easier to visit his or her teacher or go to the local school board than it is to get answers from the tangled federal bureaucracy hundreds of miles away.