Education

By Rick Mitchell

We need a strong public education system that produces well rounded citizens who can think for themselves.

We need to do away with NCLB and restore balance to the educational process. We should establish a best practices program that determines what successful schools are doing right and emulate that. The focus should be on progress, not high-stakes testing.

Currently, children enter the educational system in widely varying states of readiness to participate. More often than not, these initial inequalities are not addressed, and they only grow with the passage of time. These are the students who eventually find it easier to drop out than try to graduate. This is why I believe pre-K programs are so important.

In providing a quality education for all of our children, we also solve, in some measure, some of society's other problems. Reducing crime requires a multifaceted approach involving not only law enforcement, but also providing economic opportunities and education to the citizens. When we do it right, all the pieces of the puzzle start to fit together.

In recent years, education has been a loser in the battle to balance the budget. I believe in balanced budgets, and I also believe that education has become a lower priority for our government. Ideally, the federal government would increase its contribution to about 1/3 of the total. Imagine what might be done with all the funds, approximately $10,000 per person in Erie County, that have been poured into the Iraq occupation. If we cannot persuade those in the federal government to become responsible citizens, then we'll have to make education a higher priority on the state level. I would try to do that by voting against wasteful spending. Increasing taxes would be a last resort. The future of our country depends on the education we provide to our young people today. To quote FDR, "Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education."