Joe Manchin III on Education

Democratic Jr Senator; previously Governor

More accountability & more audits in the education system

Manchin brought up the importance of adding more accountability in the education system. "We have to start demanding more and more accountability, responsibility," said Manchin. "There is an audit going on in West Virginia now and I hope they adopt this audit in the legislature to make the changes that need to be made to improve education in the state of West Virginia."

Raese, on the other hand, said that competition is what's good for education. But he didn't stop there, he added that competition is also good for America and West Virginia.

Source: West Virginia MetroNews on 2012 W.V. Senate debate , Oct 3, 2012

Keep public education infrastructure strong

Manchin says the state can and needs to do much better on public education, but he wants to keep public education infrastructure strong. "I don't believe in getting rid of the Department of Education," Manchin said.

Raese wants more opportunities for programs that would allow families a voucher to send their children to private schools, which he says create competition and improve the quality of education. "We don't need a federal education system to set our curriculum," Raese said.

Source: West Virginia Public Broadcasting on 2012 W.V. Senate debate , Oct 3, 2012

$540 million in ongoing school construction

Last July, WV became the first state to use the Qualified School Construction Bonds statewide, letting us build or improve dozens of schools at a much lower cost. We currently have $540 million in ongoing school construction--the largest amount in the history of the School Building Authority, but much more needs to be done.

I am asking the Legislature to give the SBA more borrowing flexibility. This will allow us to create a steady revenue stream and provide safer schools at cheaper bond rates.

Source: West Virginia 2010 State of the State Address , Jan 13, 2010

Increased teacher pay

State received an "A" for technology from Education Week
Gave state universities increased research flexibility
Increased teacher pay by up to 19%
Launched statewide business/education partnership
Enacted the first comprehensive teacher pay package in more than 15 years
Gave state universities increased flexibility to pursue new research that could spawn new discoveries.

Source: 2008 Gubernatorial campaign website, for re-election , Nov 1, 2008

Participate in federal program Race to the Top.

Manchin signed Letter from 9 Governors to Secretary of Education Duncan

Our states need more time to properly evaluate the changes needed to resubmit our applications, as well as to engage in meaningful and collaborative discussions with our legislatures, our schools, our unions, and our communities. We need to make informed changes to our applications, whether in the area of evaluations, turnarounds, standards, or data collection. These changes will be stronger if they are informed by the comments of those who reviewed our initial application.

Therefore, we request that you considerably accelerate the timeline for release of peer reviewers' comments and scores from Phase One or extend the deadline to submit our Phase 2 application until July 1, 2010; so our states can continue the necessary hard work, without losing momentum, to reform education and apply for Race to the Top Phase Two. As Governors -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- we were proud to stand with President Obama, and with you, to bring about real systemic change in education through the Race to the Top competition. Under the first phase of competition, you saw forty states and the District of Columbia respond to your call. While only fifteen states and the District of Columbia were selected as finalists for Phase One, we all remain committed to pursuing necessary reforms to help ensure that our states' applications are competitive for the second phase of funding.

The finalists were announced on March 4, with applications for next round due less than 90 days later on June 1. You also announced that our comments and feedback on our applications would not be available until sometime in April, which would further reduce that already short timeline for meaningful course correction to fewer than 60 days.

Source: Letter from 9 Governors to Secretary of Education Duncan 100316-Gov on Mar 16, 2010

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Contact info: Email Fax number: 888-438-2731 Mailing Address: Senate Office SH-311, Washington, DC 20510

Page last updated: Apr 22, 2013