John Engler Quotes

Equal access to public education has been achieved. But what is the good of access to a failing school?

My concern for education in New Mexico has always been there. I'm one of those kids that struggled through school, and I feel like I fell through the cracks.

As somebody who visits countless schools, I see firsthand the dire situation our educational system faces.

When I first came to Los Angeles, I was a teacher in Compton. I know how in need schools are around the country.

My husband was working as principal of an urban transformation high school - the kind of public charter school determined to do whatever it takes to give its mostly minority, low-income student body the education they need and deserve to be successful in life.

Public schools in the late '80s and early '90s were a total mess... we felt that if I was going to have a good educational option in my life, I would have to go to a public school district that actually served its children.

If, as the popular saying goes, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, the people who run our public schools fit that description.

Why doesn't anyone care that the schools in Harlem have been unsuccessful for half a century? Why is this not a big deal? To me, it's a terrible deal.

Our schools should get five years to get back to where they were in 1963. If they're still bad maybe we should declare educational bankruptcy, give the people their money and let them educate themselves and start their own schools.

American education is still the wonder of the world, and we must open the schoolhouse doors, not close them.

If you think advantage lies in resources, then you think the best educational system is the one that spends the most money.

Looking ahead, I can see more and more instances where I will disagree with the president on very fundamental issues. The largest, for me, is education.

If all the rich and all of the church people should send their children to the public schools they would feel bound to concentrate their money on improving these schools until they met the highest ideals.

I believe the government should ensure all children are provided with a good education.

During my time as a state legislator, I've pushed for significant investment in public school districts. In Congress, I would look forward to increasing federal public investment in education through initiatives like Race to the Top.

Our public school system is our country's biggest and most inefficient monopoly, yet it keeps demanding more and more money.

I have maintained a passionate interest in education, which leads me occasionally to make foolish and ill-considered remarks alleging that not everything is well in our schools.

Crowded classrooms and half-day sessions are a tragic waste of our greatest national resource - the minds of our children.

Governor Romney has said nothing about preschool. I think that giving the poorest kids in America wonderful preschool, and three years of it, starting when they are two-and-a-half, is absolutely crucial.

The immediate future is going to be tragic for all of us unless we find a way of making the vast educational resources of this country serve the true purpose of education, truth and justice.

It's not easy for the average family to ensure that their child receives a quality education. And the federal government is not making it any easier.

What I'd like to say is that I think the lives of every one of these little kids who are trapped in these unsafe and failing schools are too important, and I'm willing to take the abuse in order to help them.

If you're around the system any length of time, it becomes obvious you have to attack the problem at its root and get to 7- and 8-year old kids.

I am particularly interested in primary education because the state of affairs in primary education in this country is a cause for concern.

That's why I created the New America School - to fill the cracks in our public education system.