Obama supports charter schools and “performance” pay for teachers; will be in Norfolk tomorrow, but….
Excerpts from Sen. Barack Obama’s speech on education today:
Giving our parents real choices about where to send their kids to school also means showing the same kind of leadership at the national level that I did in Illinois when I passed a law to double the number of charter schools in Chicago. That is why as President, I’ll double the funding for responsible charter schools.
….
And when our teachers succeed in making a real difference in our children’s lives, we should reward them for it by finding new ways to increase teacher pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them. We can do this. From Prince George County in Maryland to Denver, Colorado, we’re seeing teachers and school boards coming together to design performance pay plans.
I wonder how the NEA and VEA feels about these proposal?
From the gubernatorial campaign in 2005 when Republican candidate Jerry Kilgore proposed merit pay:
Virginia Education Association officials, however, say that teaching success cannot be easily measured and that a merit system would threaten the spirit of collegiality among teachers. They point to failed tries in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.
So, surely they must then support charter schools, right?
Well, according to the NEA web site, you wouldn’t think so:
Charter school teachers leave in droves, study finds
….
Public Schools as Good or Better than Charter, Private Schools
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Study Says Public Schools Outperform Charter Schools
Doesn’t look too much like educators will be jumping on the Obama bandwagon too soon, right? Or will they, like feminists with respect to Gov. Palin, check their ideology at the door too?
That aside, what about Obama’s claims of his “leadership” in Illinois on education?
“In His Eight Years In The State Senate And Two Years In The U.S. Senate, Mr. Obama Hasn’t Made A Significant Mark On Education Policy.” (“Obama’s Annenberg Stint Informs White House Bid,” Education Week, 3/7/07)
Interesting.
Also, it was just announced Obama will be in Norfolk tomorrow at Granby H.S., presumably to discuss his education plans, but the event is by invitation only.
Category: Campaigns and Elections
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Educators are stuck with Obama–they would not even consider voting Republican, and Obama knows this. Obama is just trying to appear bi-partisan here cos he can afford to.
How much does the gov’t. spend on charter school? My guess is not much. If you double it, that is not a lot a money. And if you double the money to the charter schools Obama deems are “responsible,” the dollar amount would be even lower. Thanx, Obama!
About his performance pay: Teachers should be well paid, and better teachers, should be paid even more (and you should give them whatever they ask for) is how a read his statement. This is the carrot for the educators. Nothing in his statement says what to do about poorly performing teachers.
Is Obama a new Democrat? Seems like the same old throw-money-at-the-problem answer to everything, and he gives a small nod to the Republican ideas.
It’s gonna take more than this if he is going to beat Palin in November! Oh, wait, he isn’t running against Palin? Someone better tell this to Barry.
Feminists are overlooking Palin’s ideology? Seriously? I can’t seem to find a single feminist who’s willing to vote for Palin just because she has the requisite equipment.
It’s wonderful that a woman and a mother is running for vice president, but I certainly won’t be voting for her.
LM-
Feminists are overlooking their OWN ideology…not Palin’s.
It’s not about “I am woman”…it’s about “You have to be the right woman.”
Hypocrisy, thy name is NOW, NARAL, etc. Your comment just confirms it.
Actually, it does, just not in the segment JR extracted. From another portion of he speech:
JR, I don’t see feminists not support Palin as hypocrisy. Take Ken Blackwell. A lot of folks believe he helped disenfranchise predominantly minority voters in Ohio in the 2004 elections. If you were an african american, card-carrying NAACP member voting in Ohio in 2006 when he ran for governor, would you be a hypocrite for not voting for him, since he was an African American? No, because you would vote for the candidate who you felt would better advance your agenda, regardless of if they in some ways personified it.
To believe the above is hypocrisy is to fully embrace identity politics, putting the identity of the politician above their policies.