cannon



I went to school at Brown University and did studies on the public education in Rhode Island compared to public education in Louisiana. This study led me to see the drastic difference between a Louisiana’s fourth graders ability to read and write, compared to a Rhode Island fourth graders ability to read and write. The Louisiana public education has fallen behind, which is why I want to fight for kids to have the same educational opportunities accross the board. I am a liberal Democrat and represent the state of Louisiana concerning public education. My approach to representation is the politico model which means I will represent the people of Louisiana until any unmoral requests are made. At this point I must step in and put the state back in line. But, I believe that the federal government should step in to help each state with public education. I don’t believe that the past funding has been efficient, which is one of the many components I want to change about this system. I am going to use my power in every which way I can to get equal education for the public schools in Louisiana.


 * Title:** Improving our Children’s Future


 * Sponsors:** Senator Baker and Senator Solsky


 * Purpose:** Improve public education across the board by giving more money to the states to evaluate their teachers to assure parents across America that their children are getting adequate education, and will guarantee that progress is made each year.

-Teacher Unions allow ineffective/not-updated teachers to stay in schools (a) This hinders the education of children across America (b) New, updated teachers aren’t hired because of these teacher unions (c) The teachers within the teacher unions believe they have the right to keep their position if they have been at a school longer, even if a new teacher is more qualified for the job. (d) This automatically lowers the children’s access to a good quality education, which then affects their scores on the standardized tests. (e) The growing national standards that are supposed to grow each year instead drop.
 * Findings:** Congress finds:

-The federal funding is inadequate (a) No Child Left Behind was signed by George W. Bush in 2001, standards were set that couldn’t be met because only a portion of money was given to each state, leaving it up to the state to raise the rest of the money. (b) Not all states can raise the other half of the money needed, which leads to less funding in the schools. (c) This results in: not enough school materials, the school buildings themselves can’t be improved, and not enough money for those kids who receive free lunch


 * Eligibility:** States and local governments will be eligible for those schools that haven’t met the national standards this past year (09-10) and will receive more federal funding. Once evaluations of all teachers have been done, and a school with more than 2% of teachers that fall into the category as not eligible then this school will be eligible for the grant.

(a) Provide a sufficient evaluation for teachers throughout the nation.
 * Terms & Benefits:** Secretary of Education is responsible for awarding this grant: The Equal Education Grant. This grant will help to:

(b) Allow new, updated teachers to take the place of ineffective teachers.

(c) Improve school buildings, materials, free lunches, and quality of education.

Amendment proposed by Senator Gelderman: retrain teachers who do not pass evaluations. Amendment passed.

Some resources for your bill writing


 * S.3086 Equity in Excellence Act: []
 * H.R. 4330: []