Further, Mr. Conyers does not support a federal voucher system. We should not squander our current economic promise by abandoning the public schools. Mr. Conyers does agree with proposals that call for a national standard to measure student's learning and achievement; however, Mr. Conyers does not support annual testing. It has been shown that annual standardized testing inhibits the ability of teachers to focus on the core curriculum as they spend more time preparing students for standardized tests. Instead, we should continue the current national assessment in grades 4 and 8. 

Finally, in order to improve our schools, Congress must focus it efforts on increasing funding for school construction, hiring quality teachers, loan forgiveness for teachers, reducing class size, and connecting every classroom to the Internet. Mr. Conyers hopes that we will take advantage of the opportunity before us to build world-class schools for all of our children.