Ron Kind: “I was very encouraged. In fact, we are seeing a new awakening within the business community about how inextricably…”

“I was very encouraged. In fact, we are seeing a new awakening within the business community about how inextricably linked their future success and growth needs are to the education system. We are seeing many more private-public partners being formed and creative ideas coming out of the private sector of how they can assist in improving professional development with the teachers, getting the technology into the classroom, making sure that every child, regardless of where they happen to be living and growing up, are going to have access to the important technology so we can close this digital divide and raise all our kids up so they can be competitive in what is going to prove to be a very tough and very competitive marketplace following their education careers. So that is, I think, a very positive and encouraging development, and I know many of us on the committee and within the new Democratic Coalition in particular are finding creative ways of how we can foster and encourage this type of private-public partnership to achieve common objectives. I think it is the direction we need to be going in. Right now, from what I see, there is a lot of hope and promise in this direction.”