Wednesday, January 20, 2010
McClatchy Tribune
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama, delivering a schoolhouse pitch Tuesday for a $1.35-billion expansion of his signature education plan, promised to “raise the bar” on what is expected of public school teachers and students.
“Nothing will make as much of a difference as the way we educate our sons and daughters,” Obama said after meeting with schoolchildren at an elementary school in Falls Church, Va. “The countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow, and I refuse to let that happen on my watch.”
Under the Obama administration’s Race to the Top program, states are competing for a share of $4.35 billion in federal funding aimed at spurring public schools to make student achievement the core of their programs. That potentially could include evaluating — and paying — teachers according to how well their students perform.
The initial funding was included in the economic stimulus act that the president signed into law in February, with the deadline for states to apply for that money arriving Tuesday. There is not enough money to go around for the states that are interested, the White House says.