Douglas Alexander: “I applaud his work on the math program. Among the other things which are important about the program is that it defines…”

“I applaud his work on the math program. Among the other things which are important about the program is that it defines a fair way of identifying a high-need set of teachers--in this case math and science--and when they go into teaching, to pay them more for being good teachers. That is a tough thing to do. It is tough to do that in a fair way, but the Senator has found one way to do it. We have a variety of other ways to do it. Senator Durbin and I have supported an amendment, the teacher incentive fund, which encourages that sort of experimentation, a not-made-in-Washington formula. But if we are to have areas of high need such as math and science and low-income children who can't achieve, we are going to have to find some fair ways for outstanding school teaching and leadership. The Senator from New York has taken an important step in that direction as part of what he has done today, and I congratulate him for that.”