"Breathtaking" - John Engler, former governor of Michigan, current president of National Association of Manufacturers. 

 

 "Bold" - Joel I. Klein, chancellor, New York City Public Schools.

 

"Exciting" - Susan Fuhrman, president, Teachers College, Columbia University. 

 

These were the comments by a major new report on public education that was issued on Dec. 14, 2006, by a high-powered panel, the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce (see www.skillscommission.org). Education Week magazine reported the major recommendations of the panel this way:  "At the heart of the commission's plan is the creation of state board examinations that most students would take at age 16. Those who passed would automatically be admitted to state community or technical colleges, or, if their scores were high enough, could choose to stay in high school for two more years to take advanced placement, international baccalaureate or similar programs that prepared them for advanced entry to selective four-year colleges and universities.  These are truly bipartisan ideas that break the mold of the "more school choice" vs. "more money" debate, which is kind of like bickering over what car we're going to drive but not having a map of where we are going.     

This article appeared in the January 14, 2007 edition of the magicvalley.com. http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2007/01/14/opinion/reader_comments/104263.txt