Education

I want every American child to have access to a great education, and to know that they are capable of learning. These future working men and women will make our country strong and competitive, but we must get back to what works so that they can succeed.

The first step is to remind ourselves that parents have the primary responsibility for the upbringing of their children. Parents have abdicated, and the government has willingly absorbed, too much responsibility in this regard.

Second, we must return control of schools to the States over time. This will enable the parents, citizens, teachers and officials at local levels to determine what works best, as well as free them from burdensome federal requirements that take away resources and stifle the use of proven methods. This does not mean accountability is removed – it is simply enforced at local levels. Federal laws that impose testing standards and give monetary incentives to teachers should be repealed.

I also want to work toward reducing the role of the U.S. Department of Education to a level that only includes working with states to set a common list of educational goals for each grade level. This is efficient, practical and Constitutional. The belief that the federal government can dictate how to teach a student better than their parents and local teachers is unfounded. We need to stop spending money on a federal bureaucracy that is ineffective, and take a definitive step to reducing the size and scope of the government.

Lastly, I believe competition and more choices for parents will improve the system. I support vouchers because they work to improve our educational system in several ways, not the least of which is that they put more control in the hands of parents. Again, this should be a state and local decision, not the federal government's.

Though not a purely education matter, teacher retirement issues must be fixed as well. Teachers who participate in teacher retirement systems and not in our current Social Security system should not have to forfeit their ability to be compensated for contributions that they might make to Social Security . They should not be eligible for full benefits from both, but if they leave the teaching profession during their careers, they should be eligible for partial Social Security benefits. Additionally, teachers should not be excluded from receiving Social Security benefits that would normally be due them after a spouse's death.