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Washington, D.C. -- Today Congressman David Wu assailed the Bush administration's education budget cuts while the House Science Committee held a hearing on the 2004 Presidential Awardees for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Congressman Wu praised the commitment and dedication of the award-winning teachers, noting that two of the finalists were from Oregon, but professed outrage at the President's budget proposal to eliminate 150 domestic programs, one third of which are education programs.
"The importance of education cannot be overstated. Education offers us the foundation to grow, to prosper and to explore," said Congressman Wu. "Education is the key that can unlock the potential in all children. Education is also what is going to allow the United States to remain competitive in a 21st century economy. At a time when we need to be increasing math and science opportunities this administration is making it more difficult to recruit good teachers. In Oregon, the Department of Education is opposing a measure to raise high school graduation requirements in math next year because the state doesn't have the money to hire enough math teachers to require a third year of the subject for all students. This is outrageous.
"While we should rightly praise and recognize the winners here today, we need to commit ourselves to solving the problem of math and science teacher recruitment, training and retention. The first step is to reject the President's dramatic budget cuts."
The Oregon teachers recognized today were Cassandra Barnes of Oregon Trail elementary school in Clackamas and Heather Combs of Athena-Weston middle school in Weston.
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