But the mingling of public and private funds through vouchers gives greater opportunities to families of financial means and, I fear, allows the line between church and state to be blurred. We must make public education worth more than it costs if we expect public support for quality educational opportunities for all of America's children not just most children, all children. The good news is that there is no place on earth where people have a better opportunity and willingness to meet this challenge than in the United States of America. As Americans, we must get on with the business of making the kinds of change that will make a difference in the lives of millions of children who are falling behind and making our neighborhoods less safe, our families less stable, and our communities less secure. Parents, families, and students need real opportunities to meet their own expectations and potential.
Research shows that high expectations yield high results.
Children do best when surrounded by people who have great expectations for them. A conversation I had with America's 1995 National Teacher of the Year, Elaine Griffin, confirmed my beliefs. I posed three questions. I find it remarkable that we have taken so much authority away from parents the very community that has the greatest expectations of children and handed it over to a community whose expectations are so much lower. Across the broad, political spectrum, most educators and policymakers understand that improved parent involvement is key to improved student performance.