Paul Promotes Local Control PDF Print E-mail
FOR RELEASE: February 23, 2000

Paul Promotes Local Control Meets with Students to Discuss Education

Victoria, Texas - Today, Congressman Ron Paul met with a group of Victoria area students to act as "government teacher for a day." Paul addressed students from the Victoria Home School Association and discussed current legislation in Congress pertaining to education. He used the opportunity to contrast the Washington "insider" mentality toward education with his ideas of local control over schools and funding.
Paul said, "Each time we are given a new education proposal from Washington it involves another layer of bureaucracy, and that has proven harmful to education. If we truly want to reform the system, we need to let local school districts keep and distribute funds as they see fit."
Instead of giving more money and power to federal bureaucrats, Congressman Paul has proposed an education reform package centering on giving control of education back to parents. Paul recently introduced the Family Education Freedom Act (HR 935). This bill would give parents a per-year, per-child tax credit of up to $3,000 for education related expenses. It would allow parents the maximum amount of freedom in determining how to educate their children, and it would apply to all children, regardless of whether they are in public school, private school, or they are being home schooled.
Paul said, "The idea is to empower parents to take charge of their children's education. When politicians in Washington start mandating curriculum and education policies, they are taking control away from parents, teachers and locally elected school boards, and putting it in the hands of unaccountable bureaucrats."
Paul also discussed a brand new piece of legislation he introduced last week called the "Agriculture Education Freedom Act." The bill was written to address the undue taxation of students who participate in programs such as 4-H or the Future Farmers of America. Currently, students are forced to pay federal income tax when they sell livestock raised as part of an agriculture education program.
Said Paul, "These taxes discourage young people from participating in education programs, and they are another example of a growing federal government that punishes responsible students for preparing for the future. It is truly amazing that politicians in Washington would continue to tax students who are trying to do the right thing and further their education."
"I will continue to write and promote legislation that takes control over education away from Washington and puts it into the hands of parents and educators here in Victoria," Paul said. "It’s a simple idea, and most people agree, that parents know what’s best for their children, not a bureaucrat in the Department of Education."