Rep. Fattah Tells Educators, "It's not Groundhog Day any more" for schools.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA), a leading Congressional innovator and advocate for public education, told an audience of urban school board members today that President Obama's new education plan is both bold and sensible, reflecting "real world experience" with our most challenged schools.

"Back in Pennsylvania it's Groundhog Day, but here in Washington the Obama Administration's just-released education plan is nothing like that movie," the Philadelphia Congressman declared. "The Administration's bold new plan does not endlessly replay the same tired scenarios that have left our urban school systems always trying to climb out of a hole.

"The Obama plan proposes more dollars in the budget – but it's far more than just dollars and cents. The plan offers fresh ideas, sensible incentives – reflecting the real world experience of the most city-friendly President and street-smart Education Secretary this nation has ever had." 

Fattah was referring to the President's background as a community organizer in Chicago, and his choice of Chicago's ground-breaking superintendent Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education.

Fattah offered his critique of the Obama plan in a keynote address to the Council of Urban Boards of Education of the National School Board Association meeting in the Rayburn House Office Building.

The proposal, he said, builds on a number of initiatives that Fattah has advocated and guided into law – most notably the President's focus on college and career readiness for underserved students in poverty-impacted urban and rural schools.

Fattah said the President's 7.5 percent increase in the education budget must be viewed as an investment.

"Education is the investment that appreciates over time. Education dollars are an investment in our youth, our economy, our nation – an investment that pays many-fold dividends," Fattah said.

The budget plan includes $323 million for GEAR UP – Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs – which Fattah wrote into education legislation a decade ago and has provided college readiness and incentives for six million students from grades 6 to 12 in poverty-impacted schools.

Fattah also praised the Obama plan for its attention on teacher quality and qualifications. The plan has $950 million in competitive grants to States and school districts to improve the quality and fairness of the teaching workforce.

"Our high-poverty schools are often short-changed when it comes to qualified faculty. Too many teachers in challenged big-city schools are not qualified to teach their subjects," Fattah said. "The President and Arne Duncan recognize this serious teacher-quality gap, and they are moving to correct it."

The President's Plan includes incentives to encourage states to adopt clearer and more rigorous standards, echoing a Fattah proposal in H.Res.979.

Fattah also praised the Obama plan to shake up and streamline the No Child Left Behind mandate to provide a much more fair evaluation for how schools are succeeding.

"No Child Left Behind has valuable principles worth saving, but it has been deeply flawed and fails to reflect how our public schools actually work," Fattah said. "The President and Arne Duncan have kept the best and jettisoned the rest so we can truly educate and motivate our young people. It's not only the American dream, it is the American imperative."

SOURCE Office of Congressman Chaka Fattah

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