MADISON, Wis. — Pushing for a link between student test scores and teacher pay, President Barack Obama on Wednesday dangled $5 billion in federal grants to states willing to undertake a top-to-bottom overhaul of their schools in support of the White House’s priorities.
The day after fellow Democrats lost gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia, Obama tried to turn attention to his education agenda, an area in which he has made significant progress.
While the president said his first obligation was bringing the U.S. economy back from the brink of collapse, he added that long-term economic success can be achieved only by making investments in education.
“There is nothing that will determine the quality of our future as a nation or the lives of our children more than the kind of education we provide them,” Obama said while speaking at a Wisconsin middle school.
Obama came to Wisconsin a day before state lawmakers here planned to vote to lift a ban on using student test scores to judge teacher performance. The administration has said such restrictions would hurt a state’s chances of getting part of the $5 billion competitive grant fund.
“If you’re willing to hold yourselves more accountable, if you develop a strong plan to improve the quality of education in your state, we’ll offer you a grant to help make that plan a reality,” he said.
Obama’s $787 billion economic-stimulus bill included the education grants — the most money a president has ever had for overhauling schools — for which states can compete. Only Education Secretary Arne Duncan — not Congress — has control over who gets it.
