Obama, California school officials talk education goals
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama on Monday found an ally in Fresno Unified School District Superintendent Michael Hanson.
During an hour-long meeting, Obama pitched his education priorities to Hanson and other superintendents. For the school leaders and administration officials now facing some high-stakes legislative struggles, the White House session came at a key time.
We were reinforcing to him the importance of his continued support, Hanson said, adding that Obamas articulated vision for what goes on in public schools gives us the room to do this very difficult work.
Hanson is a member of the executive committee of the Council of Great City Schools, which represents 67 districts serving cities that include Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The late morning meeting in the White Houses Roosevelt Room came as part of the Councils annual legislative conference, a four-day program that features speeches, receptions and briefings. Politically, the timing was apt, as the Republican-controlled Congress and the Democratic White House are now maneuvering for position across several fronts.
This is a pretty polarized city, Hanson said, standing on the driveway outside the West Wing of the White House. You can feel it when you come here.
This week, the polarization will intensify when House and Senate budget committees unveil budget resolutions that spell out Republican priorities on everything from education to defense. The House committee members include Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., a staunch conservative whose district stretches from Fresno County in the south to Amador County in the north.
Separately, House GOP leaders have been struggling to pass a bill reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The bill, dubbed the No Child Left Behind Act during the George W. Bush administration, has roiled conservatives critical of the federal governments role in education, but it has also worried educators who fear funds will be diverted away from the neediest.
After failing to rally a majority on Feb. 27, Republican leaders pulled the bill from the House floor and have not yet rescheduled a vote. The Obama administration has warned that the president would veto the bill, now renamed the Student Success Act.
We are making too much progress now in terms of graduation rates, improved reading scores, improved math scores, increasing standards, increasing access to the resources the kids need for us to be going backwards now, Obama said following the meeting with superintendents.
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Obama, California school officials talk education goals