Senate Proceeding on May 12th, 2009 :: 0:24:00 to 0:32:15
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0:23:57 to 0:24:18( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: the first half and the majority controlling the second half. the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: thank you, mr. presiden would the chair please let me know when i've consumed 10 minutes? the presiding officer: the senator will be notified. mr. alexander: i thank the chair. mr. president, after 100 days there have been a lot of report cards on the obama administration. i would like to offer one on a

0:24:00 to 0:32:15( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Lamar Alexander

0:24:19 to 0:24:39( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: subject both the presint and i think is of crucial importance, education of the american people. and as a good teacher would, or as my late friend alex haley would say, find the good and praise it. i would like to start with the

0:24:40 to 0:25:01( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: i a-plus for recruiting. arne d presiding officer might agree with that, the new education secretary actually in a family where the mom was a preschool teacher. my mother in the mountains of

0:25:02 to 0:25:25( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: tennessee, his in the southside of chicago. he has a background for leadership. he has an agenda for rewarding outstanding teaching, an agenda for encouraging the largest number of charter schools possible, for encouraging states to set higher standards, has a close relationship with the president.

0:25:26 to 0:25:46( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: he's truly a blue chip recruit. on the subject of rewarding outstanding teaching in charter schools, if he succeeds with that in four years or eight years, it could be a nixon to china exercise in education. so an here's another a-plus for rewarding outstanding teaching. this is greatest need we have in

0:25:47 to 0:26:07( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: kindergarten through the 12th grade in america. every problem that we're faced with, after you deal with the question of having a good parent, has to do with a good teacher. whether we're talking about a gifted child or the needs after child with disabilities or a child who has come from a home where a book has never been read to them, whether in the

0:26:08 to 0:26:30( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: mountains or the southside of chicago, put a child with the best possible teacher, the child almost always succeed. in 1993, more -- more for teaching well, not one teacher was paid more for rack good many worked hard on tt, senator corker of tennessee,

0:26:31 to 0:26:51( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: when he was mayor of chattanooga, but it is hard to do to find ways to reward outstanding school leadership and outstanding teaching to pay some teacher more than others, but if w don't, we won't be able to attract and keep the best men and women in our classrooms and in our schools. the president's new budget increases from about $100 million

0:26:52 to 0:27:14( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: to $500 million the teachers incentive fund which has been a big success across this country, 34 grantees, cities, school diricts across the country are experimenting with different ways of rewarding outstanding teaching. it is not necessarily one way to do it. it almost always has to be worked out locally. most of these cities are working

0:27:15 to 0:27:36( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: with their unions to make this happen. memphis city schools is using their funds to -- to principals. philadelphia's grant application union, the northern new mexico network is working school districts. as i said earlier if secretary duncan and the president can

0:27:37 to 0:27:57( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: leave a legacy of dozens or hundreds of where outstanding paid more for their skills, not just for being there a long time, but for going back to school, that the single most important legacy they could here is one more good frayed.

0:27:58 to 0:28:19( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: an a-minus for charter schools. charter schools have history. they began in minnesota. the last act i took as education secretary in 1992 was to write start charter schools. albert sanker said if we can have a saturn plant, why not a saturn school?

0:28:20 to 0:28:40( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: wh from scratch? and take the teachers and let them use their own good judgment to deal with the children assigned to them. it is a pro-teacher idea. it has greatly expanded over the years but still runs into substantial opposition rublely from the national association or others who don't like it. these are public schools.

0:28:41 to 0:29:01( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: these are designed to free teachers so they can use their judgment to help children. secretary dunk ann the president -- duncan and the president are committed to them. the secretary and i co-wrote an op-ed for a tennessee newspaper two wee ago which apparently to influence the vote of the legislature to begin to move

0:29:02 to 0:29:26( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: along raising the cap on charter schools in tennessee. i hope that it did. i thanked the secretary for his bipartisan commitment. again, if he's able to succeed working with the president to leave a large number of public charter schools in our country when he leaves office, it will, again, be experience and the country will

0:29:27 to 0:29:47( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: be greatly appreciative. there is no major -- there is a major obstacle which is support for financing new facilities. now for the bad news. every parent has had this experience with a child's report card. an he is a d. and that is for spending $80 billion over the next two years for more of the same in the department of

0:29:48 to 0:30:09( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: education without even asking the question: is what we're doing working? that's hard for me to imagine. i mean, the budget of the department of education would be at adding $40 billion to it this year and $42 billion next year for more of the same. is everybody delighted with the

0:30:10 to 0:30:31( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: way our america? i don't think so, mr. president. we're challenged by it. we need to change it. why in the world would we p put more money in for more of the same? the only thing that saves the grade from being an "f" is that there's $5 billion for the secretary's race to the top, which is a good idea, based on

0:30:32 to 0:30:55( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: the agenda that i just described. what would we have done wi money? i would have suggested that we give a pell grant for kids to every middle- child. $500 for an abg credit after-school program. let the parent choose that. it would have created competition, given parents

0:30:56 to 0:31:16( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: consumer power and lower-income and middle-income children more options. that would would be what we could have done if we hadn't done. that's here is another unfortunate grade: a "d min" for the d.c. voucher program. i see the senator from illinois. i had no idea he would be he's been a major participant in this.

0:31:17 to 0:31:38( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: what keeps this from being an "f" is that the president and the secretary have said that they will continue funds 1,700 of columbia who are now in the high school and are continuing, but after that it's gone. there is a death sentence for it. this is a death sentence for the

0:31:39 to 0:32:00( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: model of giving low-income parents schools. it's the model that made our higher education system the best in the senator lieberman has said he will have a hearing on this d.c. voucher i hope that he does. mr. durbin: would the senator yield for a question?

0:32:01 to 0:32:17( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: mr. alexander: -- i'm finished -- well, of course i will. i'll be glad to do that as a courte to my friend. i would say to the senator from illinois, you missed my first two grades, which were a-pluses to the president for