New Secretary of Education

Today, President-elect Obama nominated Arne Duncan to be the next Secretary of Education. I happened to catch the news conference on C-SPAN. I found it interesting that during the president-elect's opening remarks introducing Mr. Duncan and during the question/answer session, parent accountability was mentioned several times. The president-elect challenged parents to turn off the video games and read to their kids. He also said we needed to "change our culture to value educational achievement." Wow! Who would have thought that a president-elect would be talking about holding parents accountable and valuing public education? I think it would be a good idea for President-elect Obama to call the California "governor" and "legislators" and encourage them to NOT cut school funding. From what I'm hearing of the budget proposals offered by both Democrats and Republicans, the proposals include major cuts to school funding. I think it's time for the state legislators to give up their per diems and car allowances. In fact, why do we need both an assembly and a state senate? Think of all the money we'd save if we got rid of one. I'm a fan of unicameral state government. I'm more of a fan of building and sustaining a culture of educational achievement.