Jeb Defends Education Record, Says We’ll Give Power ‘Back to Parents’

JEB BUSH: "We're not going to clean up the mess in Washington by electing the people who either helped create it or have proven incapable of fixing it. (Cheering and Applause) 

In government, if we get a few big things right, we can make life better for millions of people, especially for kids in public schools. Think of what we all watched not long ago in Baltimore, where so many young adults are walking around with no vision of a life beyond the life they know. It's a tragedy played out over and over and over again. 

After we reformed education in Florida, low-income student achievement improved here more than any other state. (Cheering and Applause) We stopped processing kids along as if we didn't care, because we do care. And you don't show that by counting out anyone's child. You give them all a chance. (Cheering and Applause) 

Here's what I believe. When a school is just another dead end, every parent should have the right to send their child to a better school: public, private, or charter. (Cheering and Applause) Every school should have high standards, and the federal government should have nothing to do with setting them. (Cheering and Applause) 

Nationwide, if I'm president, we will take the power of choice away from the unions and bureaucrats and give it back to parents. (Cheering and Applause) 

We made sure of something else in Florida. That children with developmental challenges got schooling and caring attention, just like every other girl and boy. (Cheering and Applause) We didn't leave them last in line. We put them first in line, because they're not a problem. They're a priority." (Cheering and Applause)