REPORTER
Borger’s representative to the United States Congress talked about the role he is playing in making the education system better for children.

Mac Thornberry, the U.S. Representative from District 13, spoke about the issue of education at a town hall meeting held last Monday in Borger.
He said he co-sponsored a bill this Congress that lets states opt out of “No Child Left Behind”.
“It says you’ve got to have a way to measure whether your kids are learning or not, to see whether your schools are doing what they should do,” Thornberry said. “It doesn’t say what test. It says you’ve got to have a way to measure whether your kids are learning or not, and as long as you are certified with the federal government, you don’t have to comply with this other stuff.”
He said when it comes to school boards, some cared more about the union employees and how many administrative and other people were on the payroll, not necessarily teachers.
“In Washington D.C. they spend about twice as much per student on the schools there, and their test scores or anything else you want to measure is way below,” Thornberry said.
He said the federal government does have an interest in making sure that children are learning and prepared to deal with the world they are going to confront.
“I think local schools can do that better than the Washington bureaucrats can do it,” Thornberry said.
He also said he thinks with the federal standards of No Child Left Behind, plus the state standards that have to be met, schools are dealing with more testing days than ever before.
Thornberry said he is on the get out of “No Child Left Behind” bill, but he doesn’t think there is a chance that Nancy Pelosi, the current Speaker of the House, will let it come up for a vote this year.
“There are quite a few people who are on it, partly out of frustration,” he said.