In a time of tight budgets, difficult choices have to be made. We must make sure our very limited resources are spent on priorities. I believe we should have no higher priority than investing in our children’s classrooms and in their future.

The statement frames education spending as a moral and strategic priority during fiscal austerity. By acknowledging “tight budgets” and “difficult choices,” Riley positions himself as pragmatic rather than idealistic, then elevates classroom investment as the non-negotiable item among competing demands. The rhetoric links present-day budget allocations to long-term social and economic outcomes (“their future”), implying that cutting education is a false economy. The quote also functions politically: it signals values (children, schools, opportunity) that can unify constituents even when other cuts or reallocations are controversial.