Obama schools plan lauded in South Florida

President Barack Obama announced an education plan for all ages, from early childhood to training for an older work force. Many in South Florida applauded it.

Miami Herald. March 10, 2009. BY PATRICIA MAZZEI, LUISA YANEZ AND KATHLEEN McGRORY

President Obama on Tuesday outlined his vision for transforming public education by increasing the number of charter schools, paying teachers based on performance and even lengthening the school year.

The plan, which addressed education for all ages, drew praise from many South Florida educators and parents.

''It's great that the federal government is finally making education a priority,'' said Miami-Dade School Board Chairman Solomon Stinson.

DECLINE `UNTENABLE'

In his first major speech on education policy, Obama tied improving public education into his broader plans to strengthen the economy.

''The relative decline of American education is untenable for our economy, unsustainable for our democracy, and unacceptable for our children -- and we cannot afford to let it continue,'' Obama said, speaking to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

The president unfurled a laundry list of priorities, ranging from early childhood education to life-long learning programs for adults.

They included:

• Investing in early childhood programs such as Head Start and Early Head Start;

• Raising standards and the quality of assessments;

• Rewarding good teachers with merit-pay incentives, and removing the ineffective ones from classrooms;

• Expanding innovative charter schools;

• Considering a longer school day or year for students across the country;

• Better funding federal No Child Left Behind Legislation; and

• Making higher education and life-long learning programs more accessible.

Obama's efforts were widely applauded.

Miami-Dade Schools Chief Alberto Carvalho said the president was ``delivering on his promise to make education a priority.''

PRAISE FROM BUSH

Said former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush: ``It is great that the president supported accountability, charter schools and pay for teacher performance. . . The president has the potential of leading the country to meaningful education reform.''

Still, Obama's support for merit-pay initiatives stirred controversy Tuesday.

Teachers unions have traditionally opposed the idea, saying some performance-pay models lead to principals and districts playing favorites.

Broward Teachers' Union President Pat Santeramo said his union has supported some merit-pay plans. But he expressed concern over using the FCAT as the only performance criteria as has been proposed in the past, saying it measures improved test-taking instead of learning based on classroom instruction.

United Teachers of Dade President Karen Aronowitz also had some misgivings: ``The UTD is not opposed to merit pay. We are opposed to putting money that would otherwise go for salaries into the merit-pay pot.''

As for replacing incompetent teachers, Aronowitz said the union does not ''disagree at all'' with the president. ''We as teachers want the highest caliber of teachers in front of students,'' she said.

In his speech, Obama noted that children in the United States are falling behind their counterparts in foreign countries. ''Despite resources that are unmatched anywhere in the world, we have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teacher quality fall short, and other nations outpace us,'' he said.

HIGH STANDARDS URGED

Obama called upon governors to adopt ''world-class standards that will bring our curriculums into the 21st century.'' He also generated a buzz about elongating the school day or the school year. He pointed out that U.S. students spend over a month less in school than their South Korean peers. ''I know longer school days and school days are not wildly popular ideas. Not in my family, and probably not in yours,'' Obama said. ``But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom.''

In addition, Obama expressed support for charter schools, which are funded by taxpayers but have their own governing bodies, meaning they're not run by county school boards. He praised the most effective charter schools, calling them bastions of innovation.

Lynn Norman-Teck, a spokeswoman for the Florida Consortium of Public Charter Schools, said her organization ''loved the support from the new administration.'' ''This is what we've been doing in the state of Florida for the past dozen years,'' she said.

Broward Schools Superintendent Jim Notter said he would have no problems with an expansion of charter schools -- so long as they remained accountable for student success. He praised the Obama plan as setting a high expectation for public education. ''I believe that he has absolutely uncorked the innovation and reignited the passion of public educators throughout this country,'' Notter said.

Obama also expressed his commitment to higher education, by announcing plans to increase the amount of federal loan money available to college students. He also wants to make sure people of all ages have the opportunity to get more education or technical training.

Leaders at local colleges and universities said they were pleased with the remarks.

Broward College President J. David Armstrong Jr. said he is now optimistic ``that more and more students from
our diverse community will have the opportunity to earn a degree that prepares them for the work place or to continue their education.''

Eduardo Padrón, president of Miami Dade College, said Obama's mandate is a beacon of hope. ''For someone who has been dealing with high-school students being unprepared for college, I'm 100 percent in agreement with the president's goal,'' Padron said.

But Padron said that money earmarked by the federal government to tackle weaknesses in the nation's education system must not be derailed by states.

''I hope the money Florida gets for this initiative will not be politicized,'' he said. ``I really believe that getting that money to the right programs will make all the difference in the world.''

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