Clinton seeks stronger education policy

President Bill Clinton called on each school district to stop social promotions and provide extra help to those who are failing behind.

“I believe that every school district should have a no-social-promotion policy, but I don’t think the kids should be branded as failures,” he said.

He made this challenge to public education among the best teachers of the year from various states and territories during the awarding rites in Washington DC last week.

The President informed teachers that from a million funding, his administration pumped in $600 million this year in federal support for after-school programs and summer school programs.

With 53 million children enrolled in public schools, he is asking leaders of states to invest as much money in education to hire teachers and raise their pay.

He said most governors enjoy great prosperity and presumably, the crime rate is down, to invest more in public education.

Clinton said, “…they don’t have to keep spending all their money on building prisons.” As part of the American family, the CNMI’s current economic state is far from being prosperous and is struggling to build another prison to comply with federal standards.

In the CNMI, around 15,000 students are enrolled in the local Public School System where teachers are mostly from the mainland. While the President is asking for a pay hike for teachers, the CNMI government is not in the position to promise a salary increase.

However, the CNMI may hope for more Federal funding after Clinton outlined his programs for the coming year.

In his speech, he said he is working to see the passing of the bill, which will provide help at the national level to build or modernize thousands of schools and hire some 100,000 highly-trained new teachers. His 18 students each class will require more teachers.

According to Clinton, the U.S. Congress last fall earmarked funding to train one third of the 100,000 teachers.

“I certainly hope we can finish the job this year,” he said.

The government is also working to double the efforts in increasing scholarships for members of the AmeriCorps and retirees from the U.S. military to expand the teaching pool.

“In our budget we provide funds for teacher training. I think it’s quite important that teachers – our new teachers especially – demonstrate that they know what they’re supposed to teach,” he said.

Clinton emphasized that school needs government funding not only to recruit teachers but money to properly train them.

In addition, the Education Accountability Act has allocated money to maintain better schools and attract the best of the crop to the teaching profession.

“When our finest young people pass up teaching, they’re missing out on rewarding careers, and we’re missing out on a chance to put our talent where we need it the most today,” he said.