In front of a packed room of Washington education leaders, Bill Gates Sr. delivered a keynote speech Thursday calling on officials to dramatically improve our education system and to compete for the federal Race To The Top funds. Below are the highlights of his speech.
At the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, by far and away our biggest investment in the United States is education. We believe that public schools are the surest path to a prosperous future for the country as a whole. Our economic future depends on them. Strong public schools also promote some of our country’s most important values, including equality. They are the best way to give every single individual an equal opportunity to make the most of his or her life.
Washington is not currently giving students the opportunities they deserve. For example, the state ranks fourth in the country in technology‐based corporations, but we are 46th in participation in science and engineering graduate programs. Low‐income and minority students are least represented in STEM fields, which means that our schools are perpetuating inequality instead of ending it, which is what they should be doing.
When students don’t do well or drop out of school, a lot of states try to fix the problem by lowering expectations. That is precisely the wrong approach. In Washington State, there are already too many high school graduates without the skills to fill jobs that require less than a two- or four-year college degree. We also know from students who have dropped out of high school that they want rigor and high expectations. If we make school more challenging and more engaging, then we will not only see fewer dropouts – but also a high school diploma that really means something.
Washington State is eligible to compete for its share of the $4.3 billion in federal discretionary Race to the Top funds. This competitive federal stimulus package is designed to drive education reform across the country, and provides an unprecedented opportunity to move meaningful education reform forward in our state.
With the state facing a $2.6 billion budget deficit and you in the legislature looking for ways to balance the budget, this should not be viewed as a budget problem, but one of the largest possible budget solutions.
Washington State cannot afford to miss out on this tremendous opportunity to receive significant new federal funding to ensure every child is ready for college, work, and life.
President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan want Race to the Top money to go to states that are committed to a high quality education for every student.
They have laid out criteria they want states to meet…using quality standards and assessments; supporting great teachers and leaders; using data to link achievement, programs, and practices; and the critical need to turn around low-performing schools.
The Gates Foundation is helping Washington with its application, but I want to make one thing clear. We’re not doing it because we see a huge push for reforms that live up to the spirit of Race to the Top. We don’t. Not yet. We’re doing it because this is our home, and we are still hopeful that Washington State can become a leader in educational innovation.
In that spirit, I urge us not to spend time and energy defending what is currently in place and figuring out creative ways to say the status quo fits the Race to the Top criteria. That would be like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Instead, I urge us to be bold in our thinking about what needs to change.
Even if money were not on the table, the Race to the Top reforms — setting high expectations for students, getting great teachers and leaders, using data for improvement, and helping struggling schools — are the right steps to ensure every Washington student has the tools needed to succeed after high school.
The combination of the Race to the Top application and legislative support for stronger education policies will help ensure our students receive the resources, effective teachers, and academic rigor they deserve regardless of where they live.
Let’s do this right.
Thank you.
Once again, one has to ask why a one-time infusion of a small amount of money should be used to radically change state education policy to align with the federal government’s ideas of what works.
Gates wants us to be “leaders” by following the feds?
Note also that R2T funds will expire, leaving us with these massive changes we will have to fund ourselves, that the R2T criteria states that
“(d) Using the funds for this grant…to accomplish the State’s plans and meet its targets…by coordinating,reallocating, or repurposing education funds from other Federal, State, and local sources so that they alignwith the State’s Race to the Top goals; and(e) Using the fiscal, political, and human capital resources of the State to continue, after the periodof funding has ended, those reforms funded under the grant for which there is evidence of success…”
Don’t do it. We don’t need the federal government to dictate our educational policy, and with all due respect, we don’t need a man who dropped out of college to lead us to the federalization of a state responsibility.