Hubert H. Humphrey Response
1
Question 1: Many alternatives to the existing education
system have been proposed; including charter schools, vouchers and private
sector involvement. Do you favor any of these approaches, or do you
have specific proposals to strengthen the current system?
Hi! Thanks for inviting me to be part of this debate. I'm happy to
share some of my views on education with you…
Providing our children with a world-class public education is one of the
most important challenges for Minnesota. We can and must create a
public education system that prepares our young people to succeed in the
global marketplace of tomorrow.
I strongly believe that our public education can meet this challenge.
We should invest in our public education system and make the bold
reforms that will make is second to none. Here's some specifics:
· Fund education first - make it our #1 priority;
· Provide access to public pre-school and day-long kindergarten for
all Minnesota kids;
· Make sure all kids can read by the 2nd grade;
· Reduce class sizes;
· Remove disruptive students and require them to attend special
disciplinary classes;
· Provide financial rewards for schools that improve student test
scores or maintain good scores;
· Invest in technology for students and teachers;
· Enforce rigorous graduation standards and offer tutoring to kids who
can't make the grade; and
· Provide two years free post-secondary tuition to every Minnesota
student who can't afford it.
Charter Schools: I support non-profit, public charter schools. When
run by committed teachers and parents and accountable to an elected
school board, charter schools are an effective and creative means for
local educational choices for students.
Vouchers: Public dollars should not be siphoned off into the private
school system via vouchers. That approach merely drains resources from
an already under-funded system
Private Sector Involvement: By "adopting" a local school, providing
resources to improve the curriculum, arranging for "real world" work
experience, and bringing their management expertise, the private sector
has an important role to play in helping our public schools.
Thanks,
Skip ( http://www.humphrey98.org )
