Marian Wright Edelman Quotes

The opponents of my budget propose taking $200 million out of our classrooms and instead spending it on a larger school employee pay raise. Our focus should be on making sure our children come first.

Too many states spend more money on prisons than on higher education.

We need more money for schools. We need more money for the kids. Ever think maybe the damn kids aren't worth it?

Think about how much it costs to incarcerate someone. Do we want them just sitting in prison, lifting weights, becoming violent and thinking about the next crime? Or do we want them having a little purpose in life and learning a skill?

We build more prisons than we do classrooms; the quality of the prisons is better than the quality of the classrooms.

It's simple: put the money into schools and not prisons.

It is better to support schools than jails.

My capital budget maintains my commitment to the education of children, health of the Chesapeake Bay, and safety of all Maryland citizens. We will continue to focus on the five pillars of my Administration as we build today and look forward to the projects of the future.

Already this war on gangs in California is taking money from universities to build prisons, and the universities have some clout.

Many states can no longer afford to support public education, public benefits, public services without doing something about the exorbitant costs that mass incarceration have created.

Our society spends a lot of money on prison bars. For the sake of our kids, let's invest in monkey bars.

We are afraid to face the hard questions. We are willing to tackle drugs, crime, and public education only if it doesn't cost us any new taxes.

Real Texans want their kids to have the best education possible, not the one politicians looking to brag about budget cuts have left us with.

We must renew our efforts to keep our communities safe, from the dangers of terrorists from foreign lands and from common criminals here at home. Let no criminal believe that tough fiscal times will yield an open cell door and a ticket to freedom.

I chose to keep teachers in classrooms rather than prisoners in prison..

A duty to the public must be to stop prisoners reoffending through successful rehabilitation.

Incarcerating non-violent offenders in the same population as more dangerous criminals has the effect of inculcating the former into a culture of criminality common among the latter, making them more of a risk to public safety upon release than when they originally went in.

Unfortunately, if the man who leaves the prison gates is just as likely or - as is sometimes grievously the case - more likely to offend as he was when he entered them, then we fail not only the individual but public safety as well.

No one wants dangerous criminals in our communities.

I'm a product of public schools. They are resource-challenged, and when you take those dollars away from public schools and send them to private schools, you're further starving the system.

Education needs to be our state's top priority.

I cannot but say a word and look my disapproval when I hear that my country is spending millions for war and war engines-more, I have heard, than twice as much as the entire public school system costs the nation.

Let us be clear. Prison works. It ensures that we are protected from murderers, muggers and rapists, and it makes many who are tempted to commit crime think twice.

If we would spend on education half the amount of money that we currently lavish on sports and entertainment, we could provide complete and free education for every student in this country.

If charter schools are not more successful on average than the public schools they replace, what is accomplished by demolishing public education? What is the rationale for authorizing for-profit charters or charter management organizations with high-paid executives, since their profits and high salaries are paid by taxpayers' dollars?