The competing approach targets scarce public tax dollars to areas of national need, working with schools and states to raise academic achievement for all students, and holding schools accountable for children's progress. It proposes continuing the drive for school improvement through smaller classes, better teachers, parental involvement, safer schools and better technology in classrooms. The entire federal contribution for K-12 education only amounts to 7 percent of the total dollars spent on elementary and secondary schools in this country. How that money is used has been governed since 1965 by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which is updated every few years. The act is up for renewal again and, for the first time in its 35-year history, the revisions brought before the Senate are not in a bipartisan bill.
Education is too important to allow party politics to take over.
I believe we should support those efforts that we already know work, and pursue our pledge to quality education to children, parents and teachers. A recent study by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee confirmed that children learn better when they are taught in smaller classes. A little over two years ago, we began an initiative to hire 100,000 teachers and reduce class sizes to a nationwide average of 18 students. With the help of this federal funding, Delaware was able to hire more than 100 new teachers in 1999. With enrollment continuing to increase in the public schools, common sense tells us we will need more teachers.