Obama courts teachers
Posted: Sunday, July 13, 2008 9:31 PM by Chuck Todd
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
In his speech via satellite to a meeting of the American Federation of Teachers, Barack Obama spoke about strengthening the country's education system by providing more support for teachers and working with them on ways to reward success.
The group announced it was endorsing Obama just before he began speaking and he said “thank you, thank you,” adding, “I am honored to have your endorsement", according to the print pool report.
"It’s time to start treating our teachers properly," Obama said, according to his
prepared remarks.
The senator laid out his plans for residency programs that supply strong teachers to high-need schools, mentoring programs that pair experienced, successful teachers with new ones and service scholarships that will pay for a person's college education if they commit their life to teaching.
He went on to talk about how best to reward teachers.
"When our educators succeed, I won’t just talk about how great they are; I will reward them for it," he said. "Under my plan, districts will be able to give teachers who mentor, or teach in underserved areas, or take on added responsibilities, or learn new skills to serve students better, or consistently excel in the classroom, the salary increase they deserve. And whether it’s the plans AFT helped create in Cincinnati or Chicago, you’ve shown that it is possible to find new ways to increase teacher pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them."
The Illinois senator's language on the subject was likely to please teachers unions like AFT and NEA because he spoke about working "with" teachers to find ways to reward them rather than imposing a system "on" them.
Obama hit his Republican rival John McCain for not having a "slim record" on education and for voting against increased funding for No Child Left Behind "to preserve billions in tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans" and against increasing funds for Head Start, Pell Grants, and the hiring of 100,000 new teachers.
He said McCain's "only proposal seems to be recycling tired rhetoric about vouchers and school choice" and he argued for "well-designed public charter schools" but against using public money for private school vouchers, which he equated with throwing our hands up and walking away.
His criticisms were in line with one of his campaign's themes that McCain is out of touch with the concerns of ordinary Americans.
