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 Showing his trademark intensity, former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer Thursday urged Coloradans to think about how candidates stand on education when they consider whom to vote for this November.
“Ask this question” when you talk to candidates, Romer said. “What leadership are you going to provide” to improve the education of children.
Romer, Colorado governor for three terms starting in 1987, now is chairman of Strong American Schools, a national advocacy group that is working to make education a top issue in the 2008 campaigns, primarily through its Ed in ’08 campaign.
(Strong American Schools also is behind those TV ads you’ve been seeing that show a boy raising a set of flags, illustrating that the U.S. ranks 21st internationally in the quality of education. View ads.)
Romer brought his “national education awareness campaign” to the west steps of the Colorado Capitol Thursday morning, flanked by a who’s who of Colorado politics and education.
Romer said he wants to “emphasize the importance of education in this campaign. …There is one issue that underlies all of them … and that is education.”
He stressed the importance of improved education to America’s economic future, given that the nation’s schools are lagging behind those of other nations.
Referring to the Olympics, Romer said, America “wouldn’t be on the podium” if medals were given out for math or science achievement.
Three education reforms “are vital,” Romer said:
- “We need to raise expectations of what students can achieve.”
- “We need to improve teaching in every classroom.”
- “We need to spend more time on education,” referring to how much more time European students spend in class during a year’s time.
A parade of other leaders echoed Romer’s sentiments:
Gov. Bill Ritter: “Every leader understands the urgent need for public education reform.”
Former Gov. Dick Lamm: “a strong America depends on well-educated students and high-performing schools.” Lamm said it “bothers me incredibly” that his generation is not ensuring that younger generations are better educated than his.
Former U.S. Sen. Hank Brown: “Education reform for our country must go beyond slogans. We must lengthen school days and school years; pay teachers based on the learning of their students; set real standards to pass students from one grade to the next; increase homework; and end the grade inflation that has served to cover up our failures.”
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper: “There is no single issue that has more relevance to everything we do.”
Leanna Clark, chair of the Public Education & Business Coalition: “It is time for a real debate on this issue.”
Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien: “We are trying to prevent the tragedy of lost human potential.”
State Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial: “There’s not a moment to waste.”
Flanking the speakers were education Commissioner Dwight Jones, the entire state Board of Education, state Rep. Rob Witwer, R-Golden, and leaders of the Colorado Education Association, the Colorado Association of School Boards, the Colorado Association of School Executives, the Colorado Children’s Campaign and Great Education Colorado.
Romer said that Republican former Gov. Bills Owens also is a supporter but wasn't able to attend the event.
The Colorado effort of Great American Schools isn’t intended to be one of policy development or program advocacy but rather one of raising public awareness.
In an interview after the event, Romer said he feels Ed in ’08 has had some impact on the presidential candidates. “We’ve brought education into their focus. I’m satisfied that we’ve moved the conversation.”
He said he’s met with presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama four times while Republican former Michigan Gov. John Engler has handled relations with the Republicans.
Romer said he’s concerned that the American public doesn’t realize the depth of the nation’s education problems.
“America is not aware of how we’re falling behind. We’ve convinced ourselves that we’re a whole lot better than we are.”
“They know in Asia” how important education is, he said. “We’re not as hungry as they are.”
Referring to the Olympics, Romer quipped that “We’d be first in the world” if Americans paid as much attention to education as they do to sports.
Romer, who will turn 80 in October, has been in public service longer than many Coloradans have been alive. He’s been a state senator, unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate, top advisor to Lamm, and state treasurer. After leaving the governor’s office, Romer was chair of the Democratic National Committee and then superintendent of the Los Angeles schools. (Read his blog here.)
Asked what he plans to do after the election, Romer smiled and said, “I’ll have a job,” but he doesn’t yet know what that will be.
Great American Schools is a well-funded organization supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. Its board is packed with former governors and senators, cabinet members and current and former corporate CEOs.
Disclosure: Education News Colorado is published by the Public Education & Business Coalition.
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