RA Action:

News from the NEA Annual Meeting

July 3, 2007

Kucinich: Shift resources to schools

If elected President, Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich promised delegates yesterday that he’ll double funding for the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, provide free preschool for three and four-year-olds, and make a public college education free.

Watch a video clip of the Kucinich speech.

He would accomplish this by cutting the "bloated" defense budget 15 percent, using the $75 billion saved for education.

Dennis Kucinich and his wife Elizabeth wave to the NEA Representative Assembly in Philadelphia.

“The money’s there right now," he said. “We just need to shift the emphasis."

When he was mayor of Cleveland, Kucinich said, he "stopped tax abatements in their tracks" because they took money away from schools.

Kucinich also pledged to change student assessment to take into account the whole child. Growing up poor in Cleveland, he said, "I was not a particularly good test taker. I understand what children go through, particularly poor children.

"Yes, we need to make sure children can read, but we do not want to defeat the learning experience and make it all about testing, because then all you have is a generation of test takers, not a generation of visionaries ready to lead the nation forward."

Kucinich recalled "core moments in my own life when teachers reached out a hand when I was about to fall through those cracks, and they lifted me up."

One of those times was in sixth grade, when other children made fun of the turquoise pants he wore for six months because of his family's poverty. A teacher eased his pain by bringing in a set of clothes for him. And in 10th grade, when he planned to drop out of school, it was a teacher who reached out and persuaded him to stay.

Kucinich also condemned last week's Supreme Court ruling on desegregation and called for universal healthcare by extending Medicare to everyone.

Kucinich stressed his opposition to the Iraq war, saying, "It's time for a President who can work with the world community to stop these wars and give children a chance to grow up in peace."