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Senator Tom Carper is praising President Obama’s commitment to reforming public education and says he is going to work with him to improve education outcomes for all students through the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. 

Here is the press release from the office of Senator Tom Carper:

Carper Praises President’s Commitment to Reforming Public Education,
Vows to Work with President to Improve Student Outcomes, Ensure Nation’s Competitiveness in Global Economy

 

WASHINGTON (March 15, 2010) – Today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) praised President Obama’s commitment to reforming public education and vowed to work with him to improve education outcomes for all students through the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

 

“We must enact meaningful education reform that ensures all students
have the tools they need to compete and win in the global economy,” said
Sen. Carper.  “I have always made raising student achievement a
priority. When I was privileged to serve as Governor of Delaware,
Delaware became the first state to put into place a comprehensive system
of standards, teacher accountability, local control, and public school
choice. We were also successful in reducing elementary class sizes and
raising teacher salaries. Delaware was the first state to wire every
classroom to the Internet. 

 

“After my first year in the United States Senate, I was proud to vote
for the 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act, commonly known as No Child Left Behind, because it took several
important steps critical to reforming public education – that we were
already doing in Delaware – most importantly establishing education and
effectiveness standards for all schools and teachers, as well as a
specific set of consequences if these standards were not met. 

 

“In the years since No Child Left Behind was enacted we have seen
improvements in education across the board and a narrowing of the
achievement gap, but more work remains,” continued Sen. Carper.  “I
applaud President Obama’s commitment to continuing this journey and
stand ready to work with him to strengthen and enhance our earlier
reform efforts.  Looking ahead we must push for more flexible,
innovative, and state and locally-driven solutions for schools, while
retaining our strong commitments to higher standards, accountability and
transparency, and results from all schools – and for all students.” 

 

Last week Sen. Carper joined Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and members of
the Moderate Democrats Working Group in writing to President Obama to
outline their priorities for the reauthorization of ESEA.   In their
letter to the President, the Senators cited alarmingly high dropout
rates and recent reports showing nearly two-thirds of eighth graders
score below proficiency in math and reading as evidence that improving
the quality of public schools must be an urgent priority for the
Administration and Congress.

 

The Senators praised President Obama’s recent efforts to spur innovation
and reform at the state and local levels, lauded proposals in the
Administration’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2011 that would provide local
leaders with more resources and flexibility, and applauded the emphasis
the President has placed on supporting teachers and leaders.

 

The Senators also noted that the President’s budget proposal reflects
many of the proposals they put forward in a letter sent in June 2009,
including greater investments in charter schools and longer school days
and school years.

 

The letter was also signed by: Sens. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Kay Hagan (D-NC),
Mark Begich (D-AK), Bill Nelson (D-NE), Herb Kohl (D-WI), Mary Landrieu
(D-LA), and Mark Warner (D-VA).

 

The full text of the letter is included below:

 

 

 

March 12, 2010

The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW                                     

Washington, DC 20500                                             

 

Dear Mr. President:

 

In order to ensure our long-term economic viability, we must
fundamentally change our public schools in this country.  Settling for
the status quo is not an adequate response to the challenges we face, or
the needs of our kids.  This year, over 1.2 million students will drop
out of school.  The 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress
reported that 69 percent of the nation’s eighth-graders scored below
proficiency level in math, and 70 percent scored below proficiency level
in reading.  We are falling behind other countries in the percentage of
Americans with college degrees. Improving the quality of our public
schools must be an urgent priority for this Congress.

 

As members of the Moderate Democrats Working Group in the United States
Senate, we are writing to express our commitment to work with you and
our colleagues on both sides of the aisle in Congress to reauthorize the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act this year. We are committed to
advocating for reform that will close the achievement gap and help
ensure our nation’s competitiveness in a global economy.  Our kids
cannot afford to wait.

 

Over the last year, we have taken unprecedented action in changing the
future of American public education.  Race to the Top has spurred
reforms at the local level.  And your FY2011 budget proposal provides a
strong framework to pursue a path of bold reform. 

 

Your new budget proposal outlines a vision for ESEA that embodies many
principles we share.  We also believe that the federal government should
encourage innovative state and local solutions that produce results.  We
support establishing clear goals, and giving the people closest to kids
the ability to determine the best ways to meet those goals.  In
addition, we must recognize and reward success.  Under the current
system, too many schools and teachers achieve remarkable gains with
their students, yet go unrecognized. 

 

Your increased focus on competition for federal resources will create
additional opportunities to reward and recognize success. As we have
seen with Race to the Top, the federal government can serve as a
significant catalyst for reform when it provides incentives for
innovation and rewards for excellence.  We applaud your effort to
transform the Department of Education into an engine for innovation, and
we believe competitive grant programs such as Race to the Top and the
Investing in Innovation Fund are effective tools to spur reform and
drive improvements in student achievement.

 

Under the myriad of federal education programs that exist today, school
leaders must spend their limited time and resources applying for too
many narrowly-focused grant programs.  This limits their ability to
implement comprehensive solutions to challenges that we know are complex
and interrelated.  By consolidating the numerous existing programs into
larger, more flexible funding

streams, your budget proposal would provide local leaders with the
resources and flexibility they need.  We support creating more
flexibility to ensure that people on the ground can focus on meeting the
needs of students, rather than meeting the needs of programs.  Rural
areas have a unique set of challenges.  We are committed to working with
you to ensure that rural states and districts fully benefit from your
proposals.

 

As we push for more flexible, innovative, and state and locally-driven
solutions for schools, we must also remain committed to the principles
of accountability that were the foundation of the last reauthorization
of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.  We must push for higher
standards and demand results and transparency from all schools – and for
all students. 

 

There are some schools that have been failing their students for too
long.  Just 2,000 schools across the country produce half of the
nation’s drop-outs.  We support significant reform such as your School
Turnaround program in the lowest-performing schools.

 

However, none of these efforts will be effective if we do not transform
our system for attracting, training, supporting and retaining teachers
and leaders.  We need a 21st Century model for attracting and keeping
talent, especially in the schools where we need them most.  We are not
doing enough to support the quality teachers we have – nearly half leave
the profession in the first five years.  We do not provide teachers or
school leaders with adequate training or mentoring.  And we fail to
differentiate the teachers who are making outstanding gains with their
students.  It is not enough to pay lip service to teachers.  We applaud
the emphasis in your budget on teachers and leaders and will work to
ensure we support our most valuable resource moving forward.        

 

Finally, we appreciate that your budget proposal reflects several of the
priorities many of us outlined in a June 25, 2009 letter to you.  We
must invest in charter and other autonomous public schools, while
ensuring that they are effective and accountable.  We must extend the
school day and school year so that our kids are prepared to compete with
their peers around the world.  And we know that none of these reforms
can succeed unless they are based on accurate information about outcomes
and effectiveness.  Thus, we applaud your proposed investment in better,
more useful assessments and data systems that measure growth, which will
be instrumental in providing the information needed to inform
decision-making and drive improvement in our schools. 

 

As Congress continues to invest in our country’s economic recovery,
education reform should be a top priority.  Our ability to compete in an
increasingly competitive global marketplace depends on our ability and
willingness to work together now to improve our public schools and
invest in our children’s future.  We look forward to working with you
and all of our colleagues in Congress to reauthorize and improve the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act this year.   Our country’s future
depends on it, and our children can’t wait any longer.

 

Sincerely,

  

 

 

_____________________________
_____________________________

 
Michael F. Bennet
Evan Bayh

United States Senator
United States Senator