‘No Child Left Behind Act’ Takes Center Stage at State Board of Education Summit Tomorrow

DOVER, DE – Senator Tom Carper will discuss the No Child Left Behind Act with Delaware educators tomorrow at the State Board of Education Summit in Dover. Carper is an active advocate for education overhaul that includes flexibility, standards and increased resources. President Bush has underfunded education promises made in the No Child Left Behind Act by $7 billion dollars- and Carper will renew his call for the President to “rethink (his) financial commitment to our nation’s children and provide the resources needed to make the No Child Left Behind Act more than just rhetoric, but a reality.” Carper was amongst a group of moderate Democrats supportive of the No Child Left Behind Act that wrote a letter to President Bush last month demanding that he keep his promise by providing sufficient funding for education. “As you know, we believe that the No Child Left Behind Act provides a long-needed overhaul of federal education policy, dramatically refocusing our attention and resources on raising academic achievement for every child. This new performance-based approach, which we first called for over three years ago, creates a new contract for federal education aid- more funding and flexibility for public schools, along with enhanced targeting of those new dollars to districts with the greatest needs, in return for greater academic achievement among all students,” the letter reads. “But in advocating for this approach, we also recognized that our insistence on accountability would ring hollow if we failed to put our money where our mouth is… How can we expect to live up to the commitment we made of leaving no child behind when your budget leaves so much of the investment we promised behind?” An important part of the No Child Left Behind Act is the “Charter Schools and Choice Act” which provides $350 million to expand public school choice and encourage the growth of charter schools. The Charter Schools bill was the first piece of legislation Carper sponsored as a Senator and was signed into law by President Bush. WHO: Senator Tom Carper and Delaware educators WHAT: DE State Board of Education Summit WHERE: Sheraton Inn, Dover WHEN: TOMORROW: Friday, November 22, 2002 2:15 p.m.