I fully recognize that the future of America is linked to the successful education of our children. While public education has traditionally been a right and responsibility of states and local communities, federal funding and control has increased over recent years. As a result there has been a growing debate on whether federal involvement in education, and the billions in federal spending that comes with it, is actually improving educational opportunity.

I support the reevaluation of the federal role in education and believe that federal policy must always balance the need for standards and accountability with the rights of students, families and teachers while preserving local control of K-12 education. And in a time of ever more tight budgets, where spending restraint is necessary to decrease the federal deficit, innovative and effective education policy must be the guiding principle.