Our Children Deserve Education Reform

Through a grassroots, issue advocacy campaign titled No Child Left Behind, the National Federation of Republican Women is speaking out about the desperate need for education reform.

America's public schools are drowning in a decades-old, federally-mandated system of bureaucracy and mediocrity that has yielded few tangible results. Federal education spending is at an all-time high, but student achievement continues to lag behind. As the most prosperous nation in the world, the U.S. should have the best education system, but our children's test scores sag below those of most industrialized nations. Instead of preserving a system that doesn't work, we should be building public schools worthy of all of our nation's children. No matter what their economic or ethnic background - our children deserve better. They deserve the best! But our system is failing them miserably.

The time for education reform is now, but who will provide the leadership and the plan to help states, school districts and parents chart a path to greater student achievement? NFRW, one of the largest women's political organizations in the nation, believes Republicans embrace the best education proposals and possess the vision to institute effective change.

Republicans across the country not only have strong education reform results, but also offer a strategic plan to improve the quality of public schools for all children. The Republican plan says parents, teachers, and local school districts must have the flexibility to make important decisions and to provide the environment in which students will excel.

But Republicans also demand results by calling for an accountability system that measures student achievement. While schools will be free to spend federal dollars as they see fit, academic performance and scores must show improvement. Schools will be required to broadly disclose these results so parents can best assess the quality of their child's education. This leads to another key component of the Republican education plan: parental choice. Republicans believe parents should not be forced to send their child to a deficient school and that competition from charter schools, vouchers and home schooling is important to improving the public school system.

Education reform is a tough issue that affects every American family, but we cannot succumb to fear of change. We must meet the challenge and ensure no child is behind.