Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Reauthorization Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 10.

Now, why would I rise in support of this? If you hear the rhetoric from the other side, you are saying this is not a program that works; but if you compare the results, it does work. When you just hear that only 55 percent of people in D.C. Public Schools graduate from high school and yet if they have an opportunity to go to this other school, 89 percent graduate, my goodness, what more do you need to understand?

Look, it is very evident about what is going on here. If you want our children to succeed, if you want our children to excel, and if you want America to be able to compete worldwide, then education is the answer. The true issue here is a moral issue and a civil rights issue.

I really believe that President Obama, in 2008, was on to something. This is what the President said:

The single most important factor in determining student achievement is not the color of their skin, it is not where they come from, it is not their parents or how much money their parents have. It is who their teacher is.

Mr. Chairman, if there is one thing that has made this country exceptional, it is that we have allowed everyone the opportunity to rise from whatever level they started at to whatever level they can achieve. It is only possible through education. This program works.

Mr. Chairman, $60 million is going to be equally divided between the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, D.C. Public Schools, and the D.C. Public Charter Schools. When we give this money to the parents of these children, when they get a chance to see their children excel, when they get a chance to see their children grow, and when they see a chance for their children to have great success, how can we sit in America's House and debate about is this really what it is all about?

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