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Wanted: Smarter Students Since 1965, the federal government has created more than 760 education programs across 39 different federal agencies, costing us $100 billion per year. This huge bureaucracy strangles local schools with red tape, grant applications and interference. We could live with this situation if it benefitted American students. But that is not the result we have been getting. Four of every ten American fourth-graders do not read at even a basic level. Half of all students from urban districts fail to graduate on time, if at all. The situation is so bad that colleges are forced to spend $1 billion each year to teach one-third of all incoming students what they should have learned in high school. This evidence tells us that money alone cannot solve the problem. Some in Washington think that more money is always the answer. Their approach reminds me of a cartoon of a man throwing dollar bills at a flat tire. No matter how much he spends, that tire is not going to be fixed. The same seems true of our schools, right now. President Bush knows this and has introduced a plan to leave no child behind. The President's education plan will change these unacceptable results. Along with setting high standards -- states, school districts and individual schools will be held accountable. Perhaps most important, local schools will be given the flexibility to spend funds where they are most needed. The President's plan is similar to the Direct Check for Education proposal I have advocated for several years, which would cut federal strings and allow local schools to spend money where it is most needed. A school in Joplin, Missouri, may have much different needs than one in Hannibal, Kansas City, St. Louis or Boonville. Some schools need new teachers. Others are overcrowded and need new classroom space. Still others may need new textbooks or computers, or wish to begin an after-school program. Schools should be able to spend money on whatever their school needs, not on a narrow use prescribed by a Washington bureaucrat. Education, while a national priority, is a local responsibility. I believe that those who know the names of their students are better at making decisions than those who do not know them. And I believe that parents, teachers, and local school boards are the key to true education reform -- not big government, Washington-based, education bureaucracies. Earlier this year, I joined the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee so that I could help shape the national debate and push common-sense education reform ideas like Direct Check and early childhood literacy. The Senate is now considering legislation authored by our Committee, the Better Education for Students and Teachers (BEST) Act, which mirrors the President's plan to improve the education system. In addition to giving local schools more control, the bill strengthens accountability to ensure improvement in student performance, provides the necessary funds to retain quality teachers, and develops literacy programs to guarantee all students will be able to read by the third grade. A love of reading is the greatest gift we can give children. Literacy is the golden key that opens a lifetime of opportunity for children. That is especially true in an age when information itself is the most valuable commodity. Ensuring that our children learn to read is the most important mission of every school, and of every parent. With its emphasis on the child, rather than the bureaucracy, this legislation offers us the first opportunity in a long time to make real progress in our schools. Kit Bond served Missouri twice as Governor and now serves the state in the United States Senate. Kit Bond served Missouri twice as Governor and now serves the state in the United States Senate. |
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