Issue Position: Education

Issue Position

A quality education is the bedrock of life-long success. Carl DeMaio will be a champion of reforms to strengthen our K-12 education system and expand access to college so our children are prepared to compete in a 21st century economy.

Carl DeMaio is committed to improving education by reducing bureaucracy, promoting state flexibility and local control, measuring and rewarding teacher performance, and expanding parental choice in education.

Measure Teacher Performance -- and Reward Our Best Teachers

Carl DeMaio supports regular evaluations of teacher performance -- and supports rewards for our best teachers. Unfortunately, teachers in San Diego Unified School District are only evaluated every five years -- and even then parents do not have easy access to the results. Carl DeMaio believes teachers should be evaluated annually, with the performance results for each teacher placed online for parents to easily access.

In Congress, Carl DeMaio will fight to expand performance reviews of schools and teachers -- and will fight for expanded funding for the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) that awards competitive grants to states and school districts to implement performance pay systems.

Parental Involvement and School Choice

No one cares more about a child's education than his or her parents. And that means no one is better equipped than parents to make educational decisions. Empowering parents is a key component in Carl DeMaio's fight to ensure our nation's children are receiving a quality education.

Carl DeMaio believes all parents -- not just the wealthy -- should have an opportunity to make a real choice when it comes to their children's education. By expanding parental choice, Carl DeMaio is encouraging competition to provide the highest quality education at all schools -- public or private.

Carl DeMaio supports reforms such as California's "Parent Trigger" Law that empowers parents to demand improvements from failing schools.

Academic standards, testing systems and curriculum should be set by states and local educators with input from parents -- without coercion from the federal government -- to ensure those who know our children best are able to shape their education to excel in college and the workplace.

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