Rep. Mike Honda, a California Democrat, had to whittle down the list of requests for the few inauguration tickets he had to give away. So the former science teacher, public school principal, and school board member came up with a contest that would reward a few creative constituents and potentially yield some ideas for school reform in the process.
Honda asked entrants to give their best pitch as to why they deserve the tickets, or to share their educational reform ideas. Here’s a sampling of the responses from Rep. Honda’s Facebook page.
From the summaries posted from the 10 winners, the ideas don’t seem all that new. Many of the winners simply shared their deep desire to attend the historic event. But among the “innovations,” there are calls for incentive pay for teachers, STEM standards, and tapping the potential of educational technology.
“The quality of the entries makes it clear how much can be gained by using the Internet to harness the insights and creativity of the American public,” Honda writes on his Web site.
The congressman has drafted legislation to create an Educational Innovation Board to be included in the economic stimulus package. He’s calling for a $10 million grant program to fund innovative school reform ideas.