Mica on Education

Improving education, reforming our school system, and modernizing our educational facilities have been among my top priorities since coming to Congress.  There is no better way to ensure the success of our nation and our children than to provide quality and excellence in the classroom.  I believe it is critical that we act now to ensure our children are well prepared for the challenges of the 21st Century and the global marketplace.
Both my wife and I have taught in public schools and recognize the importance of ensuring that classrooms are well equipped and teachers are well compensated for their service and responsibility to our children and communities.
Additionally, I believe it is important that we ensure there is accountability within our school systems.  We cannot allow our children to continue attending failing schools and must focus reform efforts on ensuring administrators and teachers are held responsible for a schools failure.  Education reform should also focus on returning control to state and local governance; our local school boards are better equipped to assess the needs of our schools and students.
I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress on ways to improve education so our children will be more competitive in an ever changing marketplace.  I understand the difficulties in the current economic environment, but I am confident we can achieve our goals of increasing accessibility, improving quality and responsibility in education while being fiscally responsible.