Jeff Bingaman: “I was very pleased that at the end of the last Congress, we finally did the right thing by education. We increased…”

“I was very pleased that at the end of the last Congress, we finally did the right thing by education. We increased funding for education. It was a bipartisan effort. We got good support in the waning days of that Congress for improvements in education. This time I believe we should not wait until the end of the Congress. I believe that education needs to be a top priority of this Congress beginning now and continuing on through the rest of the first session and, of course, the second session as well. For this reason, I think it is timely that Education Week, which is perhaps the preeminent weekly publication dealing with education issues at the national level, issued its report card on the condition of public education in the 50 States just as this new Congress is beginning. The report is entitled 'Quality Counts.' It is a very comprehensive, thorough look at the issue, and it goes through great detail in trying to assess how each State is doing in providing education to its young people. I recommend this report to all of my colleagues and anybody who is watching. I think it does a good job. It focuses where we need to be focused. I think it needs to be taken very seriously by this Congress. In the area of quality of teaching, which I am sure we would all agree is essential to a strong education, this report finds that 40 percent of high school teachers lack a college degree in the subject area that they are teaching in.”