U.S. Dept. Of Education: Obama Speech A Positive One For Students
By now, most of us have had a chance to read the text of President Obama's speech to school students across the nation - and it seems that all the hoopla made about what the President would be saying to our children has been way overdone. U.S. Dept. Of Education Secretary Arne Duncan called all the furor over this "silly" - so what do you think? Peter Cunningham, U.S. Department of Education Assistant Secretary for Communications echoed his bosses sentiment to John Gambling but the question remains: why didn't the speech come out over the weekend rather than on Monday? The President was reviewing the speech over the weekend and because he had many other speeches he was working on, it took until Monday to release the speech. The President really needed to see the speech and take time to review it before it was made public says Cunningham. As people are reading and seeing now, the President's speech is not pushing an agenda but encouraging kids to stay and be active in school. Cunningham also noted that This is an activist President who is handling a lot right now - economy, health care, energy policy, education and other agendas - in terms of education, 100 billion dollars has been pumped into the system through stimulus money.
So where is all this money going to? Mr. Cunningham says that a big chunk of the money is going to college programs and higher learning, another chunk is going to reducing cuts and keeping teachers in the school system for this year - and a portion of the 100 billion dollars has been set aside to account for expenses next year.
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