Great Governors Support Quality Education

This weekend, governors from across the nation will gather in Washington, D.C., for the National Governors Association’s annual winter meeting. Now is the perfect time to encourage your governor to reclaim the promise of public education on behalf of America’s youth. Tell your governor that America’s children deserve the same access to high-quality public education as students in other industrialized countries.

According to a recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, U.S. students rank 26th in mathematics out of 34 industrialized countries. The most significant difference between the United States and the other industrialized nations is an astounding child poverty rate of 23 percent—nearly one in four children.

The AFT calls on each governor to make investing in high-quality public education a priority at this weekend’s meeting.

Tell your governor that now is the time to reclaim the promise of public education.

All of our young people must have the opportunity to acquire the skills they need to compete in the 21st-century global economy.

Successful countries address equity in education by:

Directing resources to the schools and students with the greatest need;
Ensuring that teachers are well-prepared and supported;
Providing all students with a robust curriculum;
Nurturing partnerships with parents and community; and

AFT members wholeheartedly endorse these policies and practices of high-performing countries to mitigate child poverty. It’s time to address the educational needs of all of America’s youth by reclaiming the promise of public education.

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Thirty years of widening the gap between affluence and poverty in the United States has manifested itself in an education system that offers some young people the opportunity to succeed and entraps too many others in a cycle of adversity. The child poverty rate in the United States is 23 percent—nearly one in four children.

And a decade of top-down, test-based schooling created by No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top has failed to improve the quality of public education for all young people. As the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s recent PISA report makes abundantly clear, our nation has ignored the policies and practices from high-performing industrialized nations that successfully mitigate the effects of inequity in educating children.

These high-performing countries:

Direct resources to the schools and students with the greatest need;
Ensure that teachers are well-prepared and supported;
Provide all students with a robust curriculum;
Nurture partnerships with parents and community; and
Implement high-quality, universal early childhood education.

The crucial question we face is whether we have the will to move away from failed policies and embrace what works in high-performing countries so that we can reclaim the promise of public education.

As you meet with fellow governors convening for the National Governors Association’s winter meeting, the AFT asks you to make investing in high-quality education a priority in your deliberations.

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In unity,
John Ost
AFT Political Director

P.S. Watch the AFT video “What Does the PISA Report Tell Us About U.S. Education?”