Obama Finding Teacher Support Secure, If Tepid
Policy rifts complicate Obama-teacher dance
Ask Antonio White what he thinks of Race to the Top—President Barack Obama's signature K-12 initiative—and the Florida teacher will tell you the competitive-grant program is a "difficult pill to swallow." Merit pay for teachers based partly on student test scores is "a joke," he says. He's also not a fan of expanding charter schools, or of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
Still, Mr. White, like thousands of educators around the country, has spent months making calls and knocking on doors, trying to persuade voters to support a president with whom he has sharp disagreements on a host of issues central to his profession.
The 20-year classroom veteran says he's grateful to Mr. Obama for pouring billions of dollars into saving teachers' jobs and investing in early-childhood education. And he's very worried about GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's plan to turn more than $25 billion in federal education funding for special education and disadvantaged children over to parents, who could then spend the money at any school they choose, including a private school. That could ultimately undermine the public...
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