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Great Public Schools for Every Student by 2020



While state and local governments have the primary responsibility for public education and provide over 90 percent of the funds, federal policies can have an enormous impact on the quality of education. NEA believes it is time to reanalyze and redefine the federal role, consistent with the values of state and local control over education.


NEA proposes a new partnership among federal, state, and local education policymakers that will guide efforts to reshape public schools for the needs of the 21st century. NEA proposes that federal, state, and local policymakers work together to make every public school great by the year 2020.

Federal leaders have an opportunity to recalibrate the role of the federal government. They should reassert the original mission of the U.S. Department of Education, but
do so in ways that meet the needs of 21st century students. The federal government should embrace its role as a supporter – not a micro-manager – of state and
district responsibilities.

Schools, districts, and states – not the federal government – are the engines of  public school transformation. But to accelerate the pace of transformation, states and districts need resources and well-designed federal policies.

We propose that the federal government set a goal that every student has access to a great public school by the year 2020.

Transforming America’s Public Schools Initiative: The Federal Role

  1. Support the profession of teaching as a desired and complex field of study and practice.
  2. Federal guarantee for the sustained finding of Title I and IDEA and for special needs populations.
  3. Equal access to educational services and supports. Support state-led public school transformation through authentic accountability that is publicly transparent.
  4. Establish high quality educational research and development as essential to educational improvement.
  5. Support innovation and best practices to accelerate state-based improvement efforts and improve student learning based on proven teaching strategies and programs grounded in sound teaching and learning research.

NEA is ready to contribute ideas, give aggressive support, and help unleash the creative energies that will create great public schools for every student in America.