DES MOINES—
President Obama plans to send his plan for an overhaul of the nation's education system to congress Monday. Sunday, Obama's education secretary, Arne Duncan, pushed the plan in Des Moines saying it will overhaul the 'No Child Left Behind' law."I think there are many things with 'No Child Left Behind' that didn't work," Duncan told a crowd at Morris Elementary School, "I think the law was too punative. I thought it was great at blaming folks but not at pointing out successes. I think the law was too prescriptive and tried to micro-manage things from Washington."
Duncan says the goal is to give local districts more control of how children are taught. "We have to localize flexibility," Duncan says, "We can't manage schools from Washington. We shouldn't be micromanaging 100-thousand schools. We should see a lot more flexibility. Let local educators innovate."
Parents who came out to the public forum say, with hundreds of teachers jobs on the chopping block in Des Moines, the reforms are too little too late. "We are losing between 350 and 400 jobs right here in Des Moines schools and I have children in 5th grade, 7th grade and 9th grade," says Christine Coimito of Des Moines, "I can't wait until 2020 to have us be the top of the country and of the world again."
President Obama says, unlike "No Child Left Behind", his plan will focus on rewarding schools for making progress instead of punishing them for failing to meet benchmarks. The president is also seeking a four-billion dollar increase in federal education spending.
