You might be wondering what these names have in common.  While not an exhaustive list, they are a few of the members of Congress just elected or re-elected, upon whom education reformers can squarely count to advance better educational opportunities for all children – by leadership and votes.  They were elected despite those views, always a good sign.

These folks differ on NCLB greatly, but on charter school and school choice issues their support has been solid.  They’ll need reassurances, however, and reminders and occasional challenges when they get caught up in the onslaught of issues they face.
They’ll also need to find friends in Congress who might help back them up when they possibly vote to renew the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, or question why we’re sending more funds for teachers to states without a requirement that those funds be based entirely on merit, or even when voting to continue accountability provisions for federal funding.

Do you have others?  Please send them our way as we begin to track the 111th Congress.

A great thing happened last night: a young black man was elected President of the United States and now young black men the entire country over can aspire to the highest office in the land. In this country, however, tens of thousands of public schools fail to provide an adequate education to over 13 million low-income children—many of whom are young black men.

President-Elect Barack Obama has one of the finest educational pedigrees in the English-speaking world. He has said he wants every child in America to have the same educational opportunity that was afforded to him. I would argue that in order for his fellow Americas to harness the promise of our great nation and pull this land out of its many current and pending crises, we will need Barack Obama’s leadership to buck, beat, or break with many aspects of our public education system—especially those that continue to trap children of any color in their failing local school.

Come this January, Barack and Michelle Obama will be the parents of two young children living in the District of Columbia, whose local school system is among the very worst in the nation. Given that this is true, I for one would never fault them for sending their girls to the elite private schools in the area as did the Gores, and the Clintons before them.

But Barack Obama’s private choice for his family is not what is at issue. What is required is his leadership within the greatest civil rights struggle of our time. The very lives of young black men, among others, are depending on it.

Will this be the No Excuses president, who like former and current lawmakers of African American descent—Kevin Chavous, Dwight Evans, Howard Fuller, Harold Ford Jr., Rev. Floyd Flake—stands up to the special interests of the public education system so that all children have access to great schools in their own generation?

I for one will be working very hard to see that the promise of our new President-Elect brings about a better tomorrow for a country of schoolchildren now looking to him for change.

Why do we care about the results of one house district in Laramie County?  Because education reform was front and center in this nail biting race.  Edmonds, who will now enter her second term in the Wyoming legislature, took the state house by storm last session when she introduced bold charter school legislation that was only one vote shy of a 2/3rd majority for introduction in a 20-day budget session.

Since then, Edmonds has canvassed the state with her call to action and has remained a true champion of school choice, accountability and teacher initiatives that will matter most for Wyoming’s future.  However, it didn’t take long for the state’s teachers union to take notice that Edmonds posed a real threat to the status quo.  Backing former union member Katherine Van Dell, the Wyoming Education Association pulled out all the stops in House District 12 including bringing Governor Dave Freudenthal in to go door-to-door stumping for their pick to unseat Edmonds.  Yet that union muscle didn’t sway voters who, according to a recent statewide poll, 76 percent support allowing communities to create public charter schools.

With at least one other reform candidate returning to the U.S. Senate, education wins big in the Cowboy State.

Check out Representative Amy Edmonds in action at CER’s June 2008 Leaders Forum.

Over 59 percent of respondents to a national poll supported the idea of linking pay to performance and even President-elect Obama stumped for merit-pay proposals.  But we also know that the referendum results have nothing to do with teacher quality or school reform and more to do with how voters get their information.  As the blog Edspresso once reported:

“If you have 30 minutes to sit down with each voter – like you would with a legislator – you can make a strong case for why these reforms are important.  But with voters, it’s all about five-second sound bites.  The ‘this destroys public schools’ argument, no matter how bogus, rings clearer in voters minds than anything reformers can come up with.”

This is not a shot to performance pay, but a testament to the fact that we need to do even more to raise awareness about reforms that work.

The Center for Education Reform (CER) salutes the President-elect, Barack Obama, whose victorious grassroots and media effort to win election is one that all of us involved in education reform should consider in any effort we undertake from this day forward.  Door to door, store to bus-stop, Wall Street to Pennsylvania Avenue, the Obama campaign is a reminder that to get the attention of the people and secure their support, we must do more than send out a few missives by email, or even wait for solutions to come our way.

CER is devoted to creating opportunities and challenging obstacles for better education for all children. We will work with our new president – and all the policymakers across the country – to push and pull the issues that are most important to children, and secure excellence and the highest expectations for our teachers, staff, schools and parents.

But we will not stop – no matter what the political persuasion of any of our leaders – to insist on full equity and excellence for every child, not just those of our financially and politically endowed leaders.

We salute our current President, George W. Bush, for bringing such opportunities to children in Washington, D.C., and for using his bully pulpit to reward and encourage states all over the country to push for the best policies of children, no matter what the response of special interests.

We congratulate and salute Senator John McCain, whose valiant fight for the presidency – at a much later age in life and with fewer resources – is a lesson for us all who might tire at the very suggestion that we do more for our country, our families and for our communities.

We are blessed by God to be Americans.  We must act as Americans in unity and in preservation of the rights upon which this nation was created and secured – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Education is the gateway to all of these.

God Bless America.

Then again, out of the eleven gubernatorial races this year, only two of five reformers who could have become governor (in some cases, again) have won, both of whom were incumbents. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels was re-elected, along with Utah Governor Jon Huntsmen, who won a commanding 76 percent over Bob Springmeyer in a state whose education reforms have been tenuous, but at least there have been attempts to change.

Speaking of change, if we’re gong to have real education reform, we need more governors who are willing to buck conventional wisdom.

North Carolina Governor-elect Beverly Perdue is a friend of the teachers’ union before she’s a friend of moms who want the best for their children, so education reformers in the Tar Heel State will have to work extra hard for their opportunities here.

Over to Washington State, we’re still awaiting word on the rematch between Rossi and Gregoire – the former actually likes reform, the latter has been good on standards but has ignored the push for charter schools for years.

But out of eleven possible opportunities for change, only a fraction seem primed for greater educational opportunities.

Back in 1993, we had a much better outlook. State Governors and legislatures were bold and innovative and went on to establish many programs that bred choice and accountability.  Just 15 years later, the most salient issue of our day seems lost.

We will resolve that – soon.

Two other intrepid bloggers are getting ready to tape their eyelids open in an effort to help you understand the results of the evening as well. Take a moment to visit Alyson and Michele over on EdWeek’s Campaign K-12.

(Then come right back here…)

Did I just say that???

Yep, you betcha (for you Sarah fans out there).  Sue Taylor, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers has taken issue with ads by the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools, boasting that both presidential candidates are all about high quality charters.  In other words, charters win no matter what!

Sue knows better, and believe you me, those union leaders don’t endorse candidates lightly.  This union president told Education Week, that “yes, (Obama) would support increasing federal dollars, and he would support increasing the number of charters, but that was with the caveat that he would hold them accountable and…those that are not educating our students [would be closed.]”

Of course, accountability for results is something that The Center for Education Reform agrees with wholeheartedly.  But that’s not the kind of accountability Sue is talking about.  Her organization has sued at least twice to shut down charters – failing or not – for not performing actions they think are necessary.  They’ve also made up a few things along the way, like the notion that they should not get local funds without school board approval, or that charters are possibly unconstitutional.  Those attempts have been dismissed in court, as have their legislative attempts along side Governor Strickland to put most charters – regardless of achievement status – out of business.

Splitting policy hairs is our business in order to really know how and when policymakers may be motivated to act.  We did that in our analysis of the candidates, as well as in our review of the Obama “responsible charter” speech.

Our tent is very big and we embrace and applaud any person of any political persuasion who truly supports strong policies that enable and protect strong charter schools.  Sue is right though – there’s a very big difference in the positions of the two people competing to win, and it’s time all charter supporters – and those that call themselves leaders – held them both to high standards and didn’t give them the trophy before they’d drawn a win for the team.

The Center for Education Reform gave candidate Schaffer a 6 out of a possible score of 9. His opponent, Mark Udall, received a 3 out of 9. To be clear, candidate Schaffer received a perfect 3 out of 3 for his reform-minded position on school choice and another perfect 3 out of 3 for his strong stance on the charter school program. As Jeanne Allen, the president and founder of the Center has written in some personal correspondence on this issue “I’m happy to reiterate to anyone that Bob Schaffer is a great supporter of school choice and the U.S. Senate would be lucky to have him.”

This said, The Center for Education Reform did not give Schaffer its highest marks based on his stance on NCLB. This is important because NCLB is important. On 12/13/01, according to Roll Call 497, Schaffer voted “No” to the House agreement to NCLB. Schaffer was one of only 41 Representatives to vote No. According to our Scorecard methodology, a simple vote for or against garners a possible 3 points. On NCLB, his vote against earned Schaffer a zero.

In this last week before the election next Tuesday, The Center for Education Reform looks forward to seeing Senator Schaffer in Washington next year and to working with him to support the reauthorization of NCLB and to further expanding his reputation as a real reformer.