Pushing cities to fix failing schools and promoting charter schools are goals of an unlikely team consisting of liberal Democrat activist Reverend Al Sharpton and Republican former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, shown below in a photo from the Associated Press. .jpg)
Sharpton and Gingrich have joined forces with Education Secretary Arne Duncan and will visit Philadelphia, New Orleans and Baltimore later this year, according to the AP story. They plan to add more stops as their tour progresses.
"These are cities that have real challenges but also tremendous hope and opportunity," Duncan said.
A meeting with President Barack Obama generated the idea for the tour, as education is high on Obama's priority list.
As part of their tour, Sharpton, Gingrich and Duncan will champion charter schools, which are key to school reform.
The Education Department believes so, according to a previous article entitled Charter schools work.
Charter schools were designed to make free, public-educational options available to all children. Charter schools across the nation receive, on average, $6,585 per pupil, and district public schools receiving, on average, $10,771 per pupil.
The issue of promoting charter schools has divided the Democratic party, since these schools usually operate free from union contracts and are criticized by many teachers’ union members.
Obama has called for a doubling of the number of charter schools in the country and the lifting of restrictions where they exist. In a rare bipartisan agreement, Gingrich has applauded Obama for showing “real courage on the issue of charter schools.”
To find out more about charter schools, see:
Comments
Really a educative and informative post, the post is good in all regards,I am glad to read this post.
Yes, it is good to have both sides working together, and hopefully those union leaders that are so angry can see what is happening and realize it's about what's best for the kids and not what's best for them.
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