James M. Jeffords: “a year ago this week, in Texas, I joined several colleagues as the then-chairman of the Senate Education Committee and…”

“a year ago this week, in Texas, I joined several colleagues as the then-chairman of the Senate Education Committee and met with President-elect Bush to discuss education reform. It is interesting to note that the meeting occurred in Texas, the home of the current President, and the home of our 36th President, Lyndon Johnson, who, in 1965, signed into law the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act. As we emerged from last year's Austin meeting, we made a bipartisan commitment to write and pass an education reform bill that would raise school accountability and improve student achievement. With the projection of budget surpluses for as far as the eye could see, it appeared that we would not only set in motion innovative reforms, but we would also match those reforms with new monetary investments. It has been 362 days since we left that optimistic Austin meeting, and the scenario has dramatically changed. We are not only facing a very different economic reality, but we also have an administration in place that does not support the funding needed to successfully carry out its own education reform initiative. There is no question that we need to improve our Nation's schools. Results from the recently released National Assessment of Educational Progress show that only 1 in 5--that is only 1 in 5--of this country's high school seniors are proficient in math and science, and only 2 in 5 are proficient in reading.”