Praising Parents And Teachers During Texas Public Schools Week

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2000 Ron Paul Chapter 16
Praising Parents And Teachers During Texas Public Schools Week
Home Page Contents Cached from Ron Paul’s Congressional website.
Congressional Record Cached

9 March 2000

HON. RON PAUL
OF TEXAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Thursday, March 9, 2000

2000 Ron Paul 16:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, as this is Texas Public Schools Week, I wanted to take a moment to offer my thanks to the parents and teachers of my district and those across Texas for all of their hard work to make sure our children get the best education possible. Unfortunately, Congress and the federal bureaucracy continues to strip authority away from parents, teachers and local school boards. While Congress promises the American people that expansions of federal control over local schools will create an education utopia, the fact is the federal education bureaucracy has only made educating the next generation more difficult and diverted resources away from the classroom. For example, while the federal government provides less than 10% of education funding, many school districts find that over 50% of their paperwork is generated by federal mandates. The federal government also forces local school officials to jump through numerous hoops in order to get Washington to return a ridiculously small portion of taxpayer moneys to local public schools.

2000 Ron Paul 16:2
Over thirty years of centralized control of education has resulted in failure and frustrated parents. It is time for Washington to return control of the nations school system to the people who best know the needs of the children: local communities and parents. The key to doing so is to return control of the education dollar back to the American people.

2000 Ron Paul 16:3
In order to give control of education back to the people I have introduced the Family Education Freedom Act (HR 935). This bill provides parents with a $3,000 per child tax credit for K12 education expenses. The Family Education Freedom Act fulfills the American people’s goal of greater control over their childrens education by simply allowing parents to keep more of their hard-earned money to spend on education rather than force them to send it to Washington to support education programs reflective of the values and priorities of Congress and the federal bureaucracy.

2000 Ron Paul 16:4
The Family Education Freedom Act will help parents strengthen their childs public education. Parents may use the credit to improve schools by helping to finance the purchase of education tools such as computers or extracurricular activities such as music programs. Parents of public school students may also wish to use the credit to pay for special services for their children.

2000 Ron Paul 16:5
I have also introduced the Teacher Tax Cut (HR 937), which provides a $1,000 tax credit for every teacher in America. Quality education is impossible without quality teaching. Yet, Americas teachers remain underpaid compared to other professionals. Adding insult to injury, teachers often have to use their own money to purchase supplies for their classroom. For example, according to the Association of Texas Professional Educators, many Texas teachers spent between $50300 of their own money on school supplies during the 199899 school year!

2000 Ron Paul 16:6
Because America’s teachers are underpaid because they are overtaxed, the best way to raise teacher take-home pay is to reduce their taxes. Raising teachers’ take-home pay via a $1,000 tax credit lets teachers know the American people and the Congress respect their work and encourages high-quality people to enter, and remain in, the teaching profession. I have also introduced the Education Improvement Tax Cut (HR 936), which provides a $3,000 tax credit for cash or in-kind donations to public schools to support academic or extra-curricular programs. This legislation encourages local-citizens and community leaders to help strengthen local public schools. The Education Improvement Tax Cut Act also ensures that education funding matches the needs of individual communities. People in one community may use this credit to purchase computers, while children in another community may, at last, have access to a quality music program because of community leaders who took advantage of the tax credit contained in this bill.

2000 Ron Paul 16:7
Mr. Speaker, my education agenda of returning control over the education dollar to the American people is the best way to strengthen public education. First of all, unlike plans to expand the federal education bureaucracy, my bills are free of “guidelines” and restrictions that dilute the actual number of dollars spent to educate a child. In addition, the money does not have to go through federal and state bureaucrats, each of whom get a cut, before it reaches the classroom. Returning power over the education dollar to the American people will also free public school teachers, administrators and principals from having to comply with numerous federal mandates. Therefore, school personnel will be able to devote their time to working with parents and other concerned citizens to make sure all children are receiving the best possible education.

2000 Ron Paul 16:8
In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I once again extend my thanks to all those who are involved in the education of our nation’s children. I also call upon my colleagues to help strengthen public schools by returning control over the education dollar to parents and other concerned citizens, as well as raising teacher take-home pay by cutting their taxes, so that the American people can once again make the American education system the envy of the world.

Note:

2000 Ron Paul 16:6 the teaching profession. I have also introduced Here, the text from Ron Paul’s Congressional website was used instead of the probably corrupted text from the Congressional Record, which says: the teaching professional have also introduced.

2000 Ron Paul 16:7 federal and state bureaucrats Here, the text from Ron Paul’s Congressional website was used instead of the text of the Congressional Record, which says, federal and sate bureaucrats.

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