On January 23rd, President Bush sent his No Child Left Behind plan to the Congress with a request for a vigorous bipartisan debate about his proposals to change the culture and performance of America's schools so that no child is left behind in a failing school. Today's decisive and bipartisan action by the Senate is the final statement in what has been a strong and fruitful debate.

I thank Senator Ted Kennedy and Senator Judd Gregg for their dedicated and tireless leadership in the Senate on behalf of America's children. They have delivered President Bush a final bill with strong accountability for results, expanded options for parents of disadvantaged children, increased flexibility and local control for states and school districts, and programs that support teaching methods based upon solid scientific research on what works.

The No Child Left Behind Act offers the U.S. Department of Education a powerful set of tools in our effort to meet the needs of America's neediest students. The bill raises the quality of the education we provide our students and offers that high quality education to every child. We look forward to the hard work of implementing the new reform provisions and ensuring the achievement of all students.

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Editor's note: An audio file is attached for your use. For this and other audio, reporters and editors also can visit http://www.ed.gov/news/av/audio/index.html

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