Letter: Bush’s education plan is creating better schools

Monday, Feb. 21, 2005 | 8:54 a.m.

I was disappointed that in your Feb. 9 editorial, headlined "Under Bush, education is in a decline," you ignored the overwhelming evidence that No Child Left Behind is working. Across the country, test scores are rising and the achievement gap is closing. Far from being in decline, our schools have entered a period of resurgence.

Now we must extend the benefits of No Child Left Behind to our high schools. The president's new $1.5 billion High School Initiative will ensure that every student can graduate with the skills to succeed in higher education and the 21st century workforce.

But as we prepare our students for the future, we also must ensure that they inherit a prosperous nation by exercising fiscal discipline. We cannot afford to spend taxpayer dollars on programs that merely duplicate the efforts of other programs. That's why the president has sought to eliminate redundancies and to channel the money to programs that work and have a critical mass of dollars.

For example, to finance this new investment in high schools, the budget consolidates many smaller programs, including the GEAR UP for college program you mentioned, into larger and more flexible $1.5 billion funding streams. Local officials can still opt to direct some of this money toward GEAR UP-style activities if they decide it is the best program for them.

Our children deserve a quality education and a sound fiscal future. The president's budget proves we can give them both.

C. TODD JONES Washington, D.C.

Editor's note: C. Todd Jones is the U.S. Education Department's associate deputy secretary for budget.