Richard M. Daley Quotes

Our public education system does a great job. I don't think it's broken. We aren't interested in doing reform for reform's sake. I believe in public education; it did a great job for me. It deserves our support and encouragement.

We know that there will never be a great Newark unless there is a great public school system for our city.

I am very proud of the quality of public education in Nebraska, but I believe we have an obligation to continually assess whether our system is meeting 21st Century education needs.

We must revamp K-12 education law to ensure Washington does not stand in the way of meaningful reforms.

The number one issue facing cities isn’t crimes or jobs anymore, it’s public education.

For many years we have spent a great deal of effort and money on school reform. Yet where are we today?

We should have better schools.

I think people don't talk enough about education and what we need to do in our public education system.

Public school system status quo is indefensible.

I can imagine no more important contribution to our country's future than a long-term commitment to improving urban K-12 public schools.

When I was mayor of New York, my views changed. I began as mayor of New York City thinking that I could reform the New York City school system. After two or three years, four years, I became an advocate of choice, of scholarships, and vouchers, and parental choice, because I thought that was the only way to really change the school system.

Frankly, I'm not sure how far I would get if I attended public school today. It's not just that public schools aren't producing the results we want - it's that we're not giving them what they need to help students achieve at high levels. K-12 education in the United States is deeply antiquated.

All I suggest is to make K-12 like higher education. Higher education in the United States is the best in the world because these institutions compete with each other for your tuition dollar. Let's just bring competition to public education.

There has been a growing consensus across the country - from statehouses to the White House and the halls of Congress - that we need to take dramatic steps to improve our secondary schools.

I'm clear that we do need to improve what's happening in our schools.

America needs education reform on all levels to expand quality schools, build on past successes, and lower college debt.

The government has convinced parents that at some point it's no longer their responsibility. And in fact, they force them, in many respects, to turn their children over to the public education system and wrest control from them and block them out of participation of that. That has to change or education will not improve in this country.

In my mind, there is no reason public school reform should be a partisan issue.

Instead of just giving lip service to improving our schools, I will actually put the kids first and the teachers union behind in giving our kids better teachers, better options and better choices for a better future.

We really shouldn't be running education like a supermarket where you compare prices.

In the education debate, people are so passionate about their ideas that we often end up expending more energy shouting at each other than we do pushing for the fundamentals to success in all schools.

The most important domestic issue we face is education…and education is so broken.

When people lose faith in a system as they have in the public school system, they no longer want to support it.

These day schools did invaluable service in the days of the Colony and Commonwealth, and, indeed, in the early days of the Republic; but to their continuation must undoubtedly be ascribed the tardy recognition of the government and people of the fact that no agency for the education of the masses is as effective as the public school.... There is not one public school building owned by the government or by any city or township.

The public education landscape is enriched by having many options - neighborhood public schools, magnet schools, community schools, schools that focus on career and technical education, and even charter schools.