Obama and education

The President is right to address education. He is on the right path, but needs to go further in putting the children ahead of the "system" and the teachers (unions).

Conservatives claim to be against government spending. As a liberal, I have no such qualm.

Here's my plan, starting with the nation's capital:

-Take Washington D.C. and fully fund all the schools plus an added 20 %. Then let those who believe in "public education" implement what they think is best.
-Give every student a $10,000 scholarship to go to any school public, private, or home school. Then let parents decide what is best for their children.
-Each student receiving the scholarship needs to be regularly tested by national standards. They get to keep their scholarship as long as they do as well as their peers. If it is equally bad or equally good then parents should have choice.

So the President can continue his "Race to the Top" within the public school structure. Most of our children will still be there and they need it. But we should establish as a principle that indivdual parents should determine whether their particular child is being educated well according to what they think is most important. We should use the national standards as a benchmark to make sure the students are being educated, and it's not fraud waste or abuse.