The Department of Education Act of 1979 was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter which established a Cabinet position of Secretary of Education and a federal agency to manage in an effort to shore up a struggling public education system.  The Bush Administration increased the annual spending on the Department by more than 69% between 2002 and 2004, and signed into law one of the few bi-partisan efforts coming out of Washington entitled No Child Left Behind.

In the years that have convened since the creation of the ED, the annual budget has increased to nearly $70 billion dollars today and has shown no discernable improvement in reading, writing, and arithmetic skills at the elementary and secondary education levels.  Colleges all across the Nation have been required to institute remedial courses to their curriculum in an effort to help incoming freshmen students achieve success.

Every year, funded and many unfunded mandates reign down upon States and local school districts along with a myriad of new regulations written by Washington bureaucrats who haven’t experienced the inside of a classroom in many years - if at all.  No Child Left Behind has all but dictated the curriculum and the pace of the classroom which in fact has allowed many children to fall behind.  The pressure to teach to a standardized test and cover all the requisite material prior to the scheduled battery of multiple choice, calculations, and short answer questions leaves precious little time to truly help the struggling student AND actually teach the student to think for them self rather than simply recognize a problem they had previously seen.  

The overriding issue is the 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution which says:
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

Nowhere in the Constitution can the word “education,” or a phrase relating to it, be found.  Consequently, the development, formation, and implementation of an education policy must remain with the State and local school boards.  Some officials attempt to justify the Federal takeover of education under the inter-state commerce clause which allows Congress to establish regulations involving business between states.  But in education at the primary and secondary levels, children are seldom allowed to cross school district lines within a state and never across state lines due primarily to how schools are funded with state taxes – so no interstate commerce exists.

As your Senator, I will work to achieve concurrence on the following:
• The elimination of the Department of Education and the Cabinet Level Secretary
• The termination of the No Child Left Behind Act

As a United States Senator and federal employee, who fervently believes that the education of our children is an Ohio and local school district responsibility, I would have little authority to dictate additional changes in how our young people are taught.  Having said that however, I would love to have the opportunity to facilitate discussions and generate ideas as to how we can increase the success we have in all of our schools with an emphasis on the inner city.  As a society we must raise the bar, support our children, and ensure they are ready to meet the demands necessary to continue the traditions of our great Nation.  We must bring new meaning to “No Child Left Behind”, but we must understand that it will not be achieved by merely allocating more funds and generating more standardize testing.

Recently, the President of the American Federation of Teachers has urged the membership to “accept a form of teacher evaluation that takes student achievement into account, and the union has commissioned an independent effort to streamline disciplinary processes and make it easier to fire teachers who are guilty of misconduct.”  I applaud the union as it proceeds in that direction, but it is not the sole answer to our difficulties.  The students and parents are equal partners in the success or failure of the local district, and I hope that we can work to achieve the accomplishments we expect and require.

One thing I will assure you, my love and commitment to education will cause it to be raised in each and every county town hall meeting I attend – at least 176 times a year!

Please Note:   I make the commitment to all Ohioans to work diligently for the items listed above, but I will be only one vote in the Senate so I need your help.  We will discuss all the action steps at each of the town hall meetings and establish plans to garner support and push ahead with the agenda.