A State Of The Union Speech To Remember
The members of the Yass Prize community are coming to town this week to meet with members of Congress and many of their governors, and it got me thinking, “Wouldn't it be amazing if the President recognized the nation’s best education innovators tonight?”
It’s tradition for the President to recognize special guests to the State of the Union sitting in the First Lady’s Box in the House Gallery. In 1985, President Reagan recognized ‘Mother’ Clara Hale, of Harlem, NY who was also on his American Commission on Drug-Free Schools as an American Hero. Bill Clinton in 1997 welcomed students who tied for first in the world in science and came in second in math in the Third International Math and Science Study, and in 1998 recognized civil rights activist Rosa Parks. Ty'Sheoma Bethea, a schoolgirl from Dillon, South Carolina who wrote a letter to members of Congress asking for help to revitalize her school, joined President Obama in 2009.
In saluting today’s innovators, President Biden could say…(click here)
Speaking of States of the Union…
Oklahoma State Governor Kevin Stitt delivered this last night. These strategic initiatives will bring Oklahoma’s education system out of the bottom and into the Top Ten. It should make a Sooner proud!
“Every child deserves a quality education that fits their unique needs, regardless of economic status, or background.
Let’s fund students, not systems.
Let’s create more schools, not fewer schools.
In my executive budget, I am proposing the following initiatives:
Education Savings Accounts.
Performance-based pay raises for teachers,
The Innovation School Fund to help start more schools like the Aviation Academy in Norman.
The most expansive reading initiative in the nation to get students reading at grade level.
Because our greatest asset isn’t our oil and gas –
It’s not our football teams –
It’s not the aerospace and defense industry.
It’s our kids."
Another Great Comment from the Heartland
“Every Nebraska kid should be given the opportunity to have their educational needs met, whether they live in Omaha or Scottsbluff. Every parent regardless of socioeconomic status should have the ability to decide what is the best school to meet their child’s need.”
Previously myopic central states like Nebraska have woken up to the fact that their children have been living off mediocre education at best. They used to tell people like me that everything was okay there, that they weren’t DC or Boston or Philly or LA. Now they realize that their systems are just like those - inequitable, unaccountable and unresponsive to the individual needs of children. They will soon join Iowa and Utah which have enacted laws giving families more opportunities to create the best educational path for their children. Dozens more such efforts are on the horizon. Bye, bye Lake Wobegon!
Gotta Read…
John Bailey’s nearly daily Covid-19 Policy Update, with all the latest on budget surplus’, state policy efforts, and Covid’s continued impact on our world.
Another shout out to my personal fave Isabelle Hau, whose Small Talks led me to an amazing TEDTalk “The linguistic genius of babies” by Pat Kuhl, Professor of Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of Washington. Amazing how much smarter they are than most of us!
This Report on our visit to SailFuture in St. Petersburg, FL last week. To call it transformational is an understatement. Read and see what I mean here.
Jeanne