SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2009 ¥ C6
COMMENTARY
Chet Valiante PUBLISHER
Jerrod Ferrari CO-MANAGING EDITOR
Chris Bosak CO-MANAGING EDITOR
John P. Reilly EDITOR EMERITUS
L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R
To the Editor
On April 3, NEF participated in
a conference call with the U.S.
Department of Education along
with 18 local education founda-
tions representing public educa-
tion students in 14 states.
A clear message sent was that
the education stimulus funding
must be used to supplement, and
not to supplant or replace budget
items that had traditionally been
part of the education budget. The
danger is that superintendents
and school boards will look for
loopholes and waivers, rather than
new ideas and sustainable reform.
To quote Secretary Duncan in a
March 23 Dallas Morning News
op-ed, “this means raising the
quality of early childhood pro-
grams; ending state caps on the
number of allowable charter
schools; rewarding good teachers
and removing bad ones; adding
learning time to the school year;
and putting the dream of a college
degree within reach for anyone
who wants one.
We are demanding absolute
transparency for every tax dollar
spent and we will use the power of
the bully pulpit and the power of
the purse to reward what is work-
ing and to reform what is not.”
For Norwalk schools,
this
means that by accepting an addi-
tional $1.2 million in Title I and
$2.3 million in IDEA (Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act)
funding, and then doing the same
old thing, may be construed as
using these funds to supplant the
school budget instead of supple-
ment it. This may be why some
states have opted not to accept this
funding.
To quote Secretary Duncan
again, “If all we do is perpetuate
the status quo, we will miss this
historic opportunity. That's why
states that are accepting funding
from the Recovery Act must com-
mit to making four reforms. They
must:
• Adopt internationally bench-
marked standards and assess-
ments that better prepare students
for college and a career. Today,
some states intentionally lower
stan