Former Florida Governor jeb bush is gathering policy experts and dedication leaders Fourth Annual education summit. We covered yesterdays events pick. Thats where we begin. Mr. Bush says the unions are barriers to better schools. How would you fix your School System . We want to get your take on it. Also, send us a tweet, post your comments on facebook, or send us an email. We begin with the Washington Times headline we want to show you what the former Florida Governor had to say at yesterdays event. [video clip] we need to have a teacher Evaluation System that is based on teachers being professionals and not part of some collective trade Union Bargaining process. We have a system to reward teachers based on an industrial and unionized model that is completely inappropriate for the 21st century, completely inappropriate. There are incredibly fine teachers that get paid less even though they are doing the lords work consistently over time and there are teachers that are mediocre that get paid more because they have been there longer. Long did it is not the determining factor of success in the classroom. We need to make sure that we provide all sorts of resources for teachers when they are struggling to be able to assure that more than a handful of their kids get a years worth of knowledge in a years time. But we should have no tolerance for when there is abject failure. Host from the Washington Times article who is a little bit more from yesterdays events. [video clip] there is an economic need and a moral obligation to insure our students have equal opportunity and a tv outcomes they need to succeed. We cannot forget to return to this foundational principles to check what we are doing against the ultimate goal of creating a Student CenterEducation System. What does that require . It requires an accountability system that ensures students achieve at the highest levels and that action occurs when those levels are not reached. It requires a teacher and principal work force rigorously trained, highly skilled, and comprehensively evaluated and supported to improve. It requires a funding system that is fair and equitable, not the one we have today where kids who need the most help get the least. It requires extensive learning time and greater learning opportunities so students who are behind catch up to their peers to make sure all students get a wellrounded education that prepares them for the century, not the last one. Certainly it requires the entire system that supports innovation and, embraces technology and reform rather than hindering them. It still requires a strong federal role in achieving those goals. Host the Washington Times reports that he has emerged as a key democratic voice in education differereform. We will turn to all of you now. Tim in gainesville, florida, a democrat. How would you fix your schools . Caller good morning. The first thing we need to do is the unions and the community, they need to come together. Whenever i hear these discussions, i never hear about where the ptsa is or what about the students . Its my understanding in chicago that the Teachers Wanted to have more treatment programs and things like that, physical education, things of that nature. What we need to do, and i always talk about this, we need to have a situation that occurs where we go back to teaching some of the things we used to a. I was in ninth grade i was looking for taking consumer math. I cannot take it by the time i got to the 10th grade and it was something offered to seniors. So we dont have civics education. The former governor did a program on cspan where he talked about his granddaughter cannot even get a decent physical education as opposed to what he got in the 1950s. Civics education. The purpose of the education and should not be to make as much money as you can. The purpose of education is to take the world as we find it and make it better. Host you believe there is still a role for unions in education . Caller absolutely. For wanting, but teachers are representing the students as well as the community. But we need to have more transparency. We need to have parents involved and we need to have the students involved at that level. By having all the voices heard, then we know more of what people need. Host randall in west palm beach, florida, republican caller. Caller my kids are in high school. Many of the kids, African American especially, want to do well. One of my kids is in an Honor Program and theres only two africanamerican kids. Theres a lot of pressure by their peers that they do well. They are put down and are called uncle tom. Their own people dont support them. And their parents are not involved. It seems the system of the kids is holding them back from achieving what they really want to do. Host is this a Public School . Caller yes. It seems they have all the opportunities other kids have, yet their own peers put them down if they are in an Honors Program or Something Like that. It does not encourage them to excel. Many of them are very bright. The majority of the kids in my sons honor class are oriental, whiteclassand hate white, and haitian children because their parents require them to do well in school. Host independent caller in wyoming now. Caller one of the greatest riders this country ever had said i never let my schooling interfere with my education. Back to the primary School System, and i think its equal responsibility between the parents, the student, and the teacher. Absolutely equal responsibility. Host gordon, the first recalls mentioned parental involvement. This is from the Washington Times what you make of that, gordon . Caller sounds like an opportunity for the parents. Host it said the labor unions are opposed to the idea. Caller sounds like an opportunity for them to start cooperating with each other. Host so you think it forces forces their hand. Caller yes. Host now to our next caller. Caller Corporate Media is the root of all our problems. They are misleading the public constantly. The idea that you would have rich shareholders deciding which information the American Public perceives is crazy the American Public receives is crazy. Second, the format that cspan uses, we never have a democrat and republican elected democrat and elected republican debating an issue so the public can see it all in one nutshell. Or even get to see over a bottle. You never had anybody rebut. Because you are the echo chamber for the gop. Let me get to the schools. Nobody has been talking about jobs. Jobs are the reason most kids go to school, to get a job. And they go get more schooling to get a better job. I know we want to live in a fantasy world where its you want to be smart no,. They invest in themselves to get a return on that investment with a job. We have had 30 years since the Reagan Administration of supply side economics. We have signed free trade agreements, no tariffs, their shipping jobs overseas. And we wonder why students dont go to school, because they know they cannot get a job. We have sent the dollar overseas. The older people and sold out the young people. Now they claim it is the young peoples all, they dont want to learn. Host i will leave it there and go back to what you said about cspan. We do have roundtable discussions from the democratic perspective canada republican perspective at the same time, often on this show. We have had members of congress, a democrat and republican, sits down and debate. In our last hour of todays show we will be turning our attention to parts of the so called fiscal cliff negotiations. Today we are focusing on the bushera income taxes. Were having a roundtable discussion in our last hour from a democratic and republican perspective on that. So stay with us. Madeleine in thousand oaks, california, republican. Caller i am the wye fire the teacher. I feel i am an independent republican. I am the wife of a teacher. In california we feel we have too many administrators. The teachers need time to get further education and that should be demanded. There are teachers who should not be there. But there are parents who are very aggressive who come to school and have come on the playground and have hit the teachers. The teachers have insurance if something happens. One student came to school with her mother is underpants. Its not only the military that get tempted, but teachers get tempted also. Host we have a line set aside for educators this morning. We want to hear from them as well as we continue this discussion on how you would fix your School System. Yesterday in washington recovered an event with Florida Governor jeb bush. He has an Education Foundation that heh startedthate held its fifth annual summit in washington, gathering policy experts, the likes of Condoleezza Rice and other folks were here talking about how we can improve education in this country. Recover the entire event yesterday. If you want to go to our web site , cspan. Org, you can find the speeches. We showed you a little of what bush had to say as well as john podesta, one of the democratic leaders, on education reform. We also posted this on our Facebook Page this morning. Here are a couple comments if you want to put your thoughts on our Facebook Page. In other news, on the fiscal cliff talks, i want to show you the headlines and what is happening in washington. We told you at the top, the negotiators are going public. President obama will go outside washington as well as Republican Leaders to press their case to the American People what they want in the stocks. But heres the Baltimore Sun this morning with the headline yesterday recovered to the speech that he gave. He says to put everything on the table. Thats what the number two democrat said yesterday. If your interested in watching the whole thing, go to our video library. And the New York Times reporting this this morning so that is the latest republican who has talked about breaking the Grover Norquist pledge on taxes. Also, this morning, ceos meeting with president obama yesterday, Business Leaders meeting with republicans as well. Toth sides gathering ceos talk about what they would like to see in the fiscal cliff tops. And in the Washington Post editorial also, usa today says you can look it up on president obamas budget page 465 that its added to the deficit, they say, and it needs to be part of the deficit. The opposing view of durban says Social Security is not in a crisis. Back to our question for our viewers. How would you fix your School System . David in kansas, an educator, republican line. Caller i just want to say i am an educator. Im not republican. I would make education a completely free market good. I would get rid of Compulsory School attendance. Would get rid of taxation a i think you need a wall that separates the government and education, just like we have a separation between government and religion. Host ok. June in wisconsin, independent. Caller hi. You know, the baby boomers got the last excellent, wellrounded publicschool education. It was based on the basics proper english, writing. For whatever reason, somebody decided and i saw a teacher wrote an article on why we have to write all these rules in english, such as i before e in english. I thought, are you kidding me . For some reason somebody said, whatever you think it is, and johnny. Its ridiculous. Theres nothing wrong with people understanding if you get down english, you can learn anything. They are deliberately dumbing down these children,. They talk about higher standards, but theyre not getting the children the skills to meet the higher standards. The teachers are not the enemy. Unfortunately, they are being portrayed as the enemy. Theyre not getting the proper respect from the children like they used to. I know that at the time you went to school, you were not nasty to your teacher, because your parents would not stand for it. Now the teachers, we dont need more teachers, they say. Theres something very wrong. It is clear to me, some poor parents cannot afford to send their children to whatever the last guy said. We need to get real and get back to the basics. If they get the answer rana, a market with a red pen. Somebody says you cannot use red because of their selfesteem. Host is the Huffington Post the report notes the importance of highquality teachers and strong education recruitment. Theres no clear correlation between higher pay and better performance. There are no magic bullets. It says that a growing money and education by itself rarely produces results and individual changes to Education Systems rarely do much on their own. Respect of teachers, good teachers are essential to a highquality education. Finding and retaining them is not necessarily a question of taipei. Instead, teachers need to be treated as the valuable professionals they are and not as technicians. It also says coulter is one area that can be changed. The cultural assumptions and values surrounding the Education System do more to support or undermine it than the system can do on its own. Using a positipositive elementss culture are important for promoting successful outcomes. Parents are neither impediments nor saviors and to education. Education for the future and not just for the president. This is a global report put out by the firm pierson, if you are interested. Lindsay next in chicago, illinois, democrat. Caller thanks for taking my call. I just wanted to make two comments. The funding of the schools, the disparity. I was a bus driver and had an opportunity to see what went on in the affluent areas in the city of chicago. Because its based on real estate taxes, the funding, never being able to have the same opportunities. Those kids have laptops and can take them home. But theres not even a computer in the class rooms within the city of chicago. My sister is a principal in the system. I asked her one question that would be critical to making the situation better for the students, she said to bring back the resources to the school in order to help the parents in dysfunctional houses that are underserved with 20 unemployment and we would get a more conducive environment and for the children to learn so they could be more prepared for school and retain what they learn in school. 14, heres the september 2012 article puts out by the white house about the effects of the potential cuts that will go into place on december 31 if no deal is struck over the fiscal cliff. The automatic spending cuts, defense and nondefense. In the report, Educational Achievement and special Education Programs would be shaved by an 2. 3 billion. This was written in september. In politico there is an opinion piece by the person who serves on the education board, president of the National SchoolBoards Association and member of the board of education in kentucky. He writes so a little better about money and this conversation were having this money, ties into the fiscal cliff talks, because defense and nondefense spending, automatic cuts take place if no deal is reached. So we are turning to all of you outside washington this morning. How would you fix your School System . Natasha in macon, georgia, an educator. Caller yes. Host what are your thoughts . Caller schools need to allow various ways of teaching. A very rigid process where we are looking for one out, but not allowing different ways to teach multiple varieties of students. Host what does that mean . You have to teach in a certain way because of testing requirements . Caller i mean because of learning requirements. Sometimes teachers teach because they want to teach a certain type of way, like they want to lecture or they dont want to change their teaching or they want to change their teaching style because the children have different home languages because of their culture. You have to take more things into account. I do think teachers could be more artistic in their interpretation of the standards. That should be supported by administrators. Host give us an example of artistic . Caller i like to use dramatic arts in my teaching a lot of times duty to a particular standard. I may have students to act it out, create a scene, create a rap or poem. Sometimes you look at that and teachers may be afraid to allow pop culture into the classroom. But you have to engage students in order for them to learn. A lot of times, education feels learning should not be fun, it should be rigid and all facing the same way. Thats what i mean by allowing more out of the box thinkers to help educators and it should be sanctioned by people that dont have the talent. A lot of times people that are not artistic are afraid of artistic people and out of the box concept. Host what grade do you teach . Caller i worked as a career evaluator apsa Technical College and im a ph. D. Student. Host so you are about to start your day . Caller yes, maam. Host now to nancy, a republican caller. Caller my biggest problem i see is discipline. My daughter is a Deaf Education teacher. She has to spend half a per day disciplining the kids. Discipline is a big problem. Second, she does not have time for less