Sen. Alexander on Obama education blueprint :"We asked you for it, and we'll now take it from here."

[Bluebear]

...Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), himself a former education secretary, held up the 41-page proposal to revise the 2002 law. "This is a helpful blueprint," Alexander said. "We asked you for it, and we'll now take it from here. It's a good beginning for a complex area."

Teachers unions disagree. The American Federation of Teachers, with 1.4 million members, and the National Education Association, with 3.2 million, have both criticized the plan. "It's still based on narrow, do-or-die, high-stakes tests, where some kids win and some kids lose," Dennis Van Roekel, the NEA president, said in an interview. Teachers, he said, are "tired of the test taking, test preparation, practice tests. They want those tests gone. And they're tired of their profession being attacked." ...

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said she had "serious concerns" about a proposal to shift emphasis toward competitive grants for teacher quality programs. She said formulas were the best way to ensure money is spread evenly, and she criticized the notion that there would winners and losers for important federal aid programs.

Duncan replied: "Honestly, what we don't want to do is fund the status quo."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/17/AR2010031701846.html?hpid=moreheadlines