The following article was selected from the Internet Edition of the Chicago Tribune. To visit the site, point your browser to http://chicagotribune.com/. ----------- Chicago Tribune Article Forwarding---------------- Article forwarded by: Cayata Dixon Return e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Article URL: http://chicagotribune.com/news/metro/chicago/article/0,2669,SAV-0104180337,FF.html ---Forwarded article---------------- BUSH AIDE TOUTS SCHOOL BILL By Ray Quintanilla In an effort to bolster public support for President Bush's major education initiative in Congress, Secretary of Education Roderick Paige told a group of Chicago business leaders Tuesday they must play a greater role in school reform if such movements are to succeed. "Some children are being left behind," Paige told about 200 business leaders at the Commercial Club of Chicago. "We cannot have a high, pious mentality. We must all be responsible." Paige said the president's education initiative hinges on linking federal dollars to school performance, a first for the U.S. government. If a school doesn't show improvement within three years, it could risk losing funds--and students. The initiative would allow students in failing schools to use $1,500 in federal funds to enroll in another public school, attend a private school or hire a tutor. The plan also would mandate testing of every child in grades 3 through 8. The business community must do its share by not giving up on public schools, Paige said. That means, for example, supporting the move for more accountability and offering to tutor or mentor children. Although Paige's message got a warm reception, Chicago Public Schools chief Paul Vallas said the nation's top education official glossed over an issue critical to the success of the nation's major urban school systems: what to do about schools that are falling apart. As it stands, the federal government provides only about 7 cents of every dollar spent on education. "We are generally supportive of the secretary. But he was preaching to the choir on a lot of that stuff," Vallas said after the speech. "What remains absent from the Bush plan is how do we pay for replacing our obsolete schools and improving the physical condition of our aging buildings." In Chicago alone, public schools need $1.5 billion to meet the demand for more space and to bring aging buildings up to code, Vallas said. In several cases, schools have been cited for leaky roofs and other violations. Paige also used his speech to prod the nation's major universities for better training for new teachers and to suggest teachers be paid on the basis of merit. Newton Minow, a prominent Chicago attorney and former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, applauded Paige's efforts and said he welcomed the secretary's attention to children in the primary and secondary grades. "Look, I'm a Democrat," Minow said. "I find it difficult to believe anyone could disapprove of what he is trying to do. Here's a man who has run a major urban school system in Houston, and he knows about a lot of the problems." -- This is the CPS Science Teacher List. To unsubscribe, send a message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information: <http://home.sprintmail.com/~mikelach/subscribe.html>. To search the archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/science%40lists.csi.cps.k12.il.us/>
