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Obama’s Education Reform Examined on Government TV Show
By Donna Gundle-Krieg March 18, 2009
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“Keeping teachers teaching and students learning” is the goal of the educational portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, according to officials on the U.S. Department of Education’s television show “Education News Parents Can Use.”
Guests on the show claimed that jobs will be saved and created under President Obama’s recently enacted stimulus package. They also believe that education reform will be promoted.
Several education professionals discussed how the stimulus dollars will benefit their districts or schools. The discussions summarized below were led by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Doris McMillon, the show’s moderator.
“Stimulus dollars are the greatest thing to happen to higher education,” said Charles Reed, Chancellor of California State University.
He believes that the money will help the US make measurable progress towards the goal of leading the world in percentage of college graduates by 2020.
California State, the largest university system in the country with 460,000 students, will also use the stimulus money for more minority outreach efforts.
In addition, the university hopes to get out of the remedial business if K-12 education is improved.
“The stimulus funds prevented my district from laying off employees and increasing class sizes,” explained William R. Hite, Jr., Deputy Superintendent of Prince George's County Public Schools in Maryland.
“We will also extend the school day and school year, including offering summer school to 3rd and 6th graders focusing on literacy, Math and writing.”
He added that the innovation funds will be used to partner with colleges to better prepare students for Math and Science fields, robotics, researching green technology.
“Stimulus dollars give us a light at the end of the tunnel as we figure out how to rebuild,” said Kenneth Cox, superintendent of the Vernonia School District in Oregon.
A few years ago, a flood destroyed the community served by the Vernonia School District in Oregon, and students suffered great deal.
“The dollars will help replace flooded out school buildings and get them out of the flood plane.” Cox said he would like his state to be the leader in building green schools.
“Districts in Oregon are using stimulus dollars to try to hold onto as many teachers and programs as they can,” stated Susan Castillo, superintendent, Oregon State Department of Education.
School board members are happy that teachers’ jobs will be saved.
“If you take teachers away, the teacher, family, community and student all suffer,” believes Anne Bryant, executive director of the National School Boards Association. This group represents the 95,000 citizens who govern nation’s public schools.
Amy Wilkins, vice president of the Education Trust, Washington, D.C. says the money will help close the achievement gap and raise overall achievement.
“School employees realize that they dodged a bullet,” she said, “and that this money is not a license to do business as usual.”
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Keeping Teachers Teaching and Students Learning
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