Obama’s Education Plan Includes More Funds for Charter Schools, More Accountability

By: Michael H. Cottman

Barack Obama offered a detailed plan for education reform Tuesday and outlined ideas to modernize buildings, increase technology in classrooms, double funding for charter schools and help uplift students of color moving into the 21st century.

Speaking in Dayton, Ohio, at Stebbins High School, the Democratic presidential nominee said America’s school system needs an overhaul.

“If we want to build a 21st century infrastructure and repair our crumbling roads and bridges, we can’t afford a future where a third of all fourth graders and a fifth of all eighth graders can’t do basic math, and black and Latino students are even further behind; where elementary school kids are only getting an average 25 minutes of science each day when over 80 percent of the fastest-growing jobs require some knowledge in math and science,” Obama said.

Obama -- in what his aides described as a major policy address on education -- talked specifically about his vision to double the amount of money the federal government spends on charter schools from about $200 million a year to $400 million.

Obama’s Education Plan Includes More Funds for Charter Schools, More Accountability....