I Rewrote Joe Kennedy's Speech to Be About Education Because I Wish It Was

An Education-Based State of the Union Response

They’re turning our kids’ education into a zero-sum game where, for one to win, another must lose. Where we can increase funding for the neighborhood schools if we block expansion of charters. Where we can extend support for reading and math if we gut resources for social-emotional learning. We can cut budgets for centrally-funded special education services today in order to raise financial support for low-income students tomorrow. Where the sanctuary cities in which many of our largest school districts operate receive federal funding only if we sacrifice dreamers. We are bombarded with one false choice after another. Charters or district schools? Support for English-language learners or special education students? Integrated or majority-minority schools? As if the union teacher in Pittsburgh, a charter teacher in Tulsa, and an innovation school teacher in Colorado are bitter rivals rather than mutual casualties of a system forcefully rigged toward the success of only some of their students. As if the parent who lies awake wondering if her sixth-grade son or daughter can actually read at a sixth-grade level is any more or less legitimate than a parent whose heart is shattered by their school forcing their student with special needs into a new school. So here is the answer the ed reformers offer tonight. We choose both. We fight. We fight for both, because the greatest, strongest, richest nation in the world should not have to leave any child behind. We choose—we choose a better education for all who call our country home. We choose access to a free public education where those who need more get more and where teachers, parents and students share responsibility for ensuring student success. We choose an education system that offers family choice, whether you choose a traditional district school, public charter school or innovation school. We choose an accountability system transparent enough to give parents confidence that their students are learning and nimble enough to change as student knowledge grows and the competitiveness of our global economy evolves. We choose ALL students. We choose the thousands of American communities whose roads to school aren’t paved with power or privilege but with an honest effort, with good faith and the resolve to build something better for our kids. That is our story.