Michael Bennet: “Thank you, Mr. President. Last week, in his address to Congress, President Trump called education ``the civil rights…”

“Thank you, Mr. President. Last week, in his address to Congress, President Trump called education ``the civil rights issue of our time.'' I completely agree with that. Millions of American kids are trapped in underperforming schools with little hope of gaining the skills needed for good-paying jobs in the 21st century economy. In America, poor kids hear 30 million fewer words than their more affluent peers by the time they get to kindergarten. If you don't think that makes a difference, you ought to talk to any kindergarten teacher in America. By the fourth grade, only one in four kids in the United States can do math at grade level, and even fewer than that can read at grade level in this country. About 9 in 100 are going to receive a college degree or its equivalent by the time they get to the age of 25. As a Nation, we are falling behind the rest of the world. American 15-year-olds rank 15th in reading in the world, 19th in science in the world, and 37th in math in the world. These numbers are shameful. They are a national disgrace. Because these results fall mainly on communities of color in this country, this is a civil rights crisis in the United States--as the President said, the civil rights issue of our time. It is for those reasons and other reasons that Congress passed No Child Left Behind in 2001, so as to strengthen the accountability and transparency for public education all over this country.…”