Rick Lazio on Education Former Republican/Conservative Representative (NY-2)

Sub-sections under Education:
• School Choice
• Other issues under Education

More teachers, smaller classes, no Washington decisions

CLINTON: Where we part company is that he didn’t support [the Bill for] 100,000 teachers in the classroom. And he has not gone along with the bipartisan plan to build and repair our schools so that we actually can have those lower classroom sizes. And he supports vouchers, which I oppose.

LAZIO: I have voted twice to reduce class size, twice for billions to help us recruit new teachers. I have been a co-sponsor of bipartisan legislation for school construction. You know that. What’s important here is that we understand the difference between us. Mrs. Clinton believes that all the decisions should be made in Washington, that we should force categorical programs. I understand that communities should be making those decisions on a community-by-community basis.

Teacher testing for new teachers and current teachers

Q: Is it true what he says - that you’re for testing new teachers but not teachers who are already in the system?

CLINTON: That’s right. And that’s what the New York law is. You know, I agree that we should be testing new teachers. I believe that we ought to have pay for performance where we evaluate teachers. I think we ought to streamline the due process standards so that teachers that don’t measure up would no longer be in the classroom.

Arkansas education: high spending, disastrous performance

CLINTON: The work that was done in Arkansas received numerous awards and praise, because we really started something that I’m very proud of. And test scores went up in third grade and sixth grade. High school graduation went up. The work was done against great odds, in a very poor state.

LAZIO: I have a very different perspective on your record in Arkansas. And I would just urge the voters not to rely on what I’m saying, but to look it up.

CLINTON: I’m not here to defend Arkansas. I’m here to run for the Senate to represent New York.

LAZIO: I realize that you don’t want to talk about Arkansas because that experience was a disaster for Arkansas.

CLINTON: I’m happy to talk about it if that’s what you want to spend your time talking about.

LAZIO: That’s your record, Mrs. Clinton. You can’t run away from your record.

Testing only new teachers is trap by teachers’ unions

Q: Are you trapped by the teachers unions?

CLINTON: No. In fact I’m very much in line with what I think will work and what experts in the field think. You know, I’m a lawyer. I had to take a bar exam. Mr. Lazio’s a lawyer. He took a bar exam and he wasn’t tested every five years. I think teachers are professionals and should be treated as professionals. That’s why I believe that we should test teachers in the beginning to make sure that when they got their teaching degree, that they’re qualified.

Immoral to force kids to stay in bad schools

CLINTON: I could not support vouchers that would take money away from schools where teachers are in partitioned hallways, where the teacher has the only textbook in the classroom. If we can get class size down, if we can provide qualified teachers, we can make a difference. I support adding 100,000 teachers to lower class size. I support the bipartisan school construction funding authority that would permit New York to have school construction without raising taxes.

LAZIO: I have voted twice to support hiring additional teachers. Under my plan, New York would not get shortchanged. Under Mrs. Clinton’s plan, New Yorkers would be subsidizing Southern states. I think it’s immoral to force a child to go to a school where they can’t learn. Poor parents want to have the choice to give their children the education that I want for my children. I trust parents to make that decision, and that’s a major philosophical difference.

Buffalo teacher’s strike illegal; get back to classrooms

CLINTON: Well, I am hoping that they’re negotiating and will be back in the classroom full-time without any other problems. The children deserve that and we need to get education started this year. I’m very much committed to doing everything I can to move the education agenda forward. And I do support the idea that the teachers should be working and their action against the Taylor Law is illegal, and I do not believe that that’s appropriate.

LAZIO: I am opposed to teachers striking where it is against the law. In this case, it has been deemed illegal. They need to get back to the classroom, and we should put as our first priority, teaching our children.

$97 Billion Education Plan

Provide opportunity for education for all children

Supports easier certification & mentoring new teachers

The Lazio Amendment to the TEA focuses on:
• Addressing the high turnover rate among beginning teachers by strengthening the essential components of mentoring programs. It provides state funding for mentoring programs to help all new teachers with professional advice and support from veteran teachers. The amendment requires that teachers mentor others in their same field of expertise.
• Making it easier for professionals to adopt teaching as a second career. It gives state incentives and maximum flexibility to create alternative teacher certification and licensure programs to recruit well-educated and talented people into the teaching profession.

Instill standards via local control over spending

Ed-Flex gives school spending flexibility

Teacher testing; merit pay; block grants for teachers

Lazio supports the following principles regarding education:
• Support voluntary teacher testing and reward teachers with merit pay.
• Increase funding for block grants to states to help them hire additional teachers.

Vouchers help the poor escape failing schools

CLINTON: I’ve visited schools throughout the state and some of them are among the finest in the world that you could find anywhere. But others are overcrowded, under-resourced. That’s why I put forth a plan to try to get the teachers that we need and to provide the funds that are required for modernizing our schools, as well as setting high standards, making them safe from violence. I do not support vouchers. And the reason I don’t is because I don’t think we can afford to siphon dollars away from our underfunded public schools.

LAZIO: I believe that it’s immoral to ask a child to go to a school where they can’t learn or where they’re not safe. 80 percent of African-American and Hispanic parents feel that they need it. Why should we trap poor kids in failing schools simply because the teachers unions won’t agree with it?

Vouchers for private school tuition

Supports limited vouchers & charter schools

Lazio supports the following principles regarding school choice:
• Allow parents to use vouchers to send their children to any publicly funded school.
• Allow parents to use tax-free savings accounts to send their children to any participating school: public, private or religious.
• Support creation of more charter schools where teachers and professionals receive authorization and funding to establish new schools.

Voted YES on allowing vouchers in DC schools.

Voted YES on vouchers for private & parochial schools.

Voted YES on giving federal aid only to schools allowing voluntary prayer.