If our children's education isn't our top priority, then shame on all of us. I simply cannot understand how the greatest country in the world can allow our educational system to fail our children. The United States lags behind most developed countries in academic proficiency, and the number of PhDs produced continues to fall farther and farther behind China and India. That fact alone will have a dramatic impact on our standing as the world's leader in science, research, and technology.
In some parts of our country the high school drop-out rates are 40% and that will make U.S. competition with the rest of the world almost impossible. That number is even higher in large urban areas. I HAVE HAD ENOUGH! Perhaps in no other area of government can we find more inefficiency, greater waste and less effectiveness than in public education. There is no greater example of the citizenry being subservient to the government than in education. This must simply be reversed.
It was an honor to have been appointed by Governor Jeb Bush and to have served the people of Florida as the Chairman of the Early Learning Coalition of Northwest Florida for 4 ½ years. Specifically, I served the 2nd Congressional District counties of Bay, Jackson, Gulf, Franklin and Calhoun, as well as the counties of Washington and Holmes. My time with the Early Learning Coalition afforded me the opportunity to learn about key educational issues, as well as examine and understand the difficulties that rest within our education system as a whole.
As your Congressman, I will fight for the following reforms:
1) Education decisions should be made at the state and local level. I believe No Child Left Behind should be amended to give greater authority to state and local officials to spend taxpayer dollars on education, as well as to maintain and define accountability standards for their school systems.
2) Parents and students should have the ability to choose the school that is best for them.
3) Accountability matters, and our school systems should be held accountable for results through state-level testing and transparent public reporting. Teacher quality should be improved through alternative certification and performance pay.
4) The federal government wastes taxpayer dollars on duplicative and poorly run programs. Waste must be rooted out and resources used far more effectively.
Parents should at all times have the greatest influence on where their children attend school. The school of their choice should be a successful learning institution with competent teachers who equip their students with the tools they need to excel, not just to exist or survive. America has many wonderfully gifted teachers who should work with parents in unison to provide the structure and support to educate the next generation of productive citizens. If America is to be the leader of the world in freedom and quality of life, then education must pave that path.
I believe deeply that the federal government should exit the education business and that decisions regarding our children's education are best made at the local and state levels. Ensuring a high level of education is essential, for it is our children who will be largely responsible for discoveries in science and technology. The next generation of Americans will offer expressions in the arts and humanities that will in the future, as in the past, reflect the United States as the greatest country in the world.