Obama unveils $18 billion education plan

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - Presidential contender Barack Obama on Tuesday called for a $18 billion education plan that he said would fix mistakes his chief Democratic rivals made when they approved President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" effort.

The Illinois Democrat criticized Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards for not fully funding No Child Left Behind. While outlining his own education proposal to prepare students for college and to train teachers to lead in classrooms, Obama said the two rivals haven't done enough to protect students.

"It's pretty popular to bash No Child Left Behind out on the campaign trail, but when it was being debated in Congress four years ago, my colleague Dick Durbin offered a chance to vote so that the law couldn't be enforced unless it was fully funded," Obama said. "A lot of senators, including Senator Edwards and Senator Clinton, passed on that chance. And I believe that was a serious mistake."

An Edwards spokeswoman said the criticism was not fair.

"In his rush to criticize, Senator Obama left out the inconvenient fact that he supported No Child Left Behind as an Illinois state senator before he opposed it as a presidential candidate," Kate Bedingfield said. "It's not 'a new kind of politics' to try to have it both ways."

While still in the Illinois state Legislature, Obama voted for the state board of education to implement No Child Left Behind. He still supports the intent of the federal law — higher standards, highly trained teachers and the closing of achievement gaps — but faults the way it has been executed.

"Labeling a school and its students as failures one day and then throwing your hands up and walking away from them the next is wrong," Obama said.

Obama's plan would encourage universal pre-kindergarten programs — but not require them — expand teacher mentoring programs and reward teachers with increased pay not tied to standardized test scores. Failing teachers would be moved from classrooms and replaced with ones who are competent, Obama said.

"In this election, at this defining moment, we can decide that this century will be another American century by making a historic commitment t o education. We can make a commitment that's more than just the rhetoric of a campaign, one that's more than another empty promise made by a politician looking for your vote," the Illinois senator said.

Obama's plan would cost $18 billion. His campaign said he would pay for it in part by delaying NASA's Constellation Program, which is developing the vehicle and rockets to go to the moon and later to Mars. He also proposes to help pay for the education plan by reducing costs by auctioning surplus federal property and by cutting down erroneous payments identified by the Government Accountability Office.

A Republican National Committee spokesman said Obama's plan could actually hurt education.

"It is ironic that Barack Obama's plan to help our children reach for the stars is financed in part by slashing a program that helps us learn about those very same stars," Danny Diaz said.

Obama said families also have to be part of the solution.

"We can spend billion after billion on education in this country. We can develop a program for every problem imaginable and we can fund those programs with every last dime we have. But there is no program and no policy that can substitute for a parent who is involved in their child's education from day one," he said.

Obama said he would accredit college programs, remove poorly performing teachers from classrooms and increase time spent on math and science instruction. He said mentoring programs are key to keeping good teachers involved and improving struggling ones.

He said he also would establish 40,000 new scholarships for potential teachers, pay for continuing education programs and invest in new schools.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071120/ap_on_el_pr/obama_education [link]

[Rouger2]

He wants to increase time spent on math and science instruction. I guess that is fine but what about English. I think they need to double the time spent on english and some years have classes only on grammer. I hated grammer, and I guess it shows but it is important although it is stupid and arbitary, but what can you do about it. English helps you think and develop you thoughts and your brain. Many college students also have to take remedial english classes. History is another thing that helps develop a thinking student. It is true that those that do not learn from their history are doomed to repeat it again and again and again.

[nbiggershaft]

Cutting NASA to pay for something else: not voting Obama anymore.

[six6ftr]

I find it interesting that he wants to cut funding to NASA. They are having enough trouble with their shuttle program so why even consider their budget. I am sure there are plenty of other programs that could easily be cut to fund this. As a matter of fact, we have somewhere around 18 different Intelligence Agencies! This is just something off the top of my head. I don't want to start on the Big Government issue again since we have it in other threads.

[garbagemanlb]

Originally Posted by nbiggershaft

Cutting NASA to pay for something else: not voting Obama anymore.

Yeah, that kind of annoys me...don't think it is enough to stop me from voting for him depending on who else is running, though.

[nbiggershaft]

Originally Posted by garbagemanlb

Yeah, that kind of annoys me...don't think it is enough to stop me from voting for him depending on who else is running, though.

well for me it has a pretty direct coorelation to whether or not I can get a job, so NASA spending is going to be a big voting issue for me

[Spideynw]

Hmm, there is no proof that throwing more money at education improves education. There is proof though that it does increase the cost of education.

[nbiggershaft]

Originally Posted by six6ftr

I find it interesting that he wants to cut funding to NASA. They are having enough trouble with their shuttle program so why even consider their budget. I am sure there are plenty of other programs that could easily be cut to fund this. As a matter of fact, we have somewhere around 18 different Intelligence Agencies! This is just something off the top of my head. I don't want to start on the Big Government issue again since we have it in other threads.

Besides personal agenda, this somewhat bothers me on the level that, claiming taking money out of NASA, a department that in comparison has almost no budget to speak of but is all over the news, is a political move.

A candidate that normally has the image of be fresh and politics free points to a publicised agency to take money from? I don't buy that as a actually researched position. Like you said, there are plenty of agencies, with much fatter, less needed budgets. I smell a wolf in sheep's clothing for the first time from Obama and I don't like it.