Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA), the top Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, today issued the following statement in response to remarks from President Barack Obama on education reform:
“President Obama is right when he says that America’s education system must once more be the envy of the world. Like him, I believe that education is the foundation upon which a competitive workforce is built, and education reform is an urgent national priority.
“The president deserves credit for his willingness to take on the education establishment, something too few in his party have been willing to do. The president made clear that he rejects the inertia of complacency and will embrace innovative strategies like teacher performance pay to spur real reform and improvement in the classroom. He has also spoken compellingly about the importance of charter schools to spur innovation and provide parental choice. I am hopeful the President will take the next step to buck reform opponents by standing up for the children in the nation’s capital and protecting the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program.
“I have fought for years to make college more accessible and affordable for America’s students, and I appreciate the President’s commitment to that goal. I look forward to working with him on financial aid reform and simplification. But I am troubled by his proposal to push the private sector out of student lending, and hope we can work together to strengthen a program that has served students well for more than four decades.
“Ultimately, though we can provide leadership, the federal government cannot solve the problems in our nation’s schools. We need to empower teachers, principals, and parents to provide a world class education for all of America’s children, so that they, and we, can compete on the world stage tomorrow.”
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