This week mayors met with Education Secretary Arne Duncan. He is a different kind of Education Secretary. He is refreshing in the way he is so fiercely honest about his feelings about mayors being in control of their public schools.
He is very much aware of the challenges some mayors face with a challenged school boards, drop'out rates, demands from unions and state bureaucracies.
He is offering to come out in our cities to help mayors involve their governors to help them with the billions of stimulus dollars that have been sent out to the states for education purposes. During the discussions with him, the mayors’ questions are raised, questions about the new “Race To The Top” initiative. Mayors are learning that there may be no funds from this stimulus program that goes directly to cities or school districts. Secretary Duncan reassures them that applications from states that do not include funding and inclusion of city schools will be rejected. He also offers some hope when the word waiver is mentioned.
In the private meeting, Secretary Duncan wants to know how he can help the mayors. He recalls that former Department of Education calls to his office in Chicago were usually not to assist, but to discuss audits etc. You leave the closed meeting believing that this guy is hell bent to reform the public schools of America. He believes in mayors and is convinced we can do USA school reform with mayors in control.
He comes from the Daley School. We remember like yesterday when Chicago Mayor Daley called me, and all the mayors, to want time at our national meetings to discuss school reform and to promote more mayoral involvement. Mayor Daley was our “biblical” Moses on this issue in that he led the way and nothing would stop him from working night and day to get to the promised land of school reform in the great city, Chicago.
At that time the Chicago public schools were in shambles, the state legislature turned the schools over to Mayor Daley – getting rid of what they thought to be a hot potato. They passed it on over from Springfield and served it up to Chicago. And that’s exactly what Mayor Daley wanted. It was through his sheer determination and laser vision that the Chicago schools were transformed into the example they are today.
After our private meeting this week where Secretary Duncan was quite honest about his position, he spoke openly on the subject in our U.S. Conference of Mayors National Education Forum. With national press attending, he was just as fierce. He reminded me so much of Mayor Daley himself as he spoke on the necessity for mayors to wade in and provide courage and leadership for school reform.
Secretary Duncan is refreshing in this town of Washington. So many are careful about what they say about this or that. It is rare that a Secretary will put his whole career on the line because he knows and believes that true school reform will not happen unless mayors get out there to lead the way in their cities. As Mayor Daley put his political life on the line for school reform, so is Secretary Duncan. And you want him to get it done nationally as Mayor Daley did in Chicago. Secretary Duncan is giving the mayors the commitment that he will be there for them as he encourages them to have political will, political courage, and political leadership on school reform to produce American high school graduates who will be equipped to compete with others across the globe.
This week with Secretary Duncan, we begin a new day, a new year for school reform. He came to us. He is saying to us, “You must do this. I want to help you.” Public schools now move higher on our priority list as we all have something to win because when its all said and done, its about the children, the students who will become the men and women who will make our country what it is to be.
Mayors need to understand that because of the Secretary’s position, the mayors now have a reason to call their school boards and to work together with them to get new money for school reform in their cities from the states. Duncan says he is not approving state plans without innovative city initiatives. We thank Secretary Duncan for his blatant honesty and his determination. We thank him for committing himself as mayors move forward to follow this man who has done it in Chicago – for Chicago’s kids, and now wants to do it in America – for America’s kids.
Energy Block Grants
The Department of Energy announced the city allocations for our new Energy Block Grants and mayors are most pleased with these allocations. We must remember they would not have this money had it not been for the leadership and tenacity of the mayors and staff of The United States Conference of Mayors.
Yesterday, I did a live webcast with Mr. Gil Sperling of the Energy Department. Hundreds of questions came in from all over the nation and Mr. Sperling did an excellent job of answering the many questions that were asked.
We appreciate the new relationship we have with the Department of Energy and we pledge to continue to work with them in a trusting relationship to give us the flexibility we need to develop our Energy Block Grants to truly meet local needs.
USMAYORS.org – Your home in the sky!
Please watch our website, usmayors.org to get updates and the very latest on our new Energy Block grants as well as all of the very latest information on the many streams of funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). If you have any questions or if I can be of assistance to you, please let me know. Again, thanks for your personal contributions and leadership in making the needed energy block grants that must be continued when ARRA expires. We will spend the money wisely. We will have best practices with measurable and positive results. And we will be successful to continue those block grants to meet the goals of our Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement, now signed by 935 mayors.
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