By Kathy Amoroso
February 1, 2010

"I want to announce that I'm creating a new task force, a Mayors Task Force on Public Schools to be chaired by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, with St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman as Vice-Chair," Conference of Mayors President Burnsville (MN) Mayor Elizabeth B. Kautz said in her introduction of Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan's keynote address at the 78th Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting.

"Is Mayor Daley here?" Duncan asked. "I just want to acknowledge his extraordinary leadership. I could not have begun to have had this opportunity, were it not for his courage and commitment. His passion and his leadership in education were extraordinary. And I think if more mayors had his courage, our country would be in a better place."

"As I've travelled the country, it's Mayor Villaraigosa in Los Angeles, Mayor Menino in Boston, Mayor Johnson in Sacramento, and Mayor Nutter in Philadelphia — I'm seeing folks step up and take courageous positions that would have been unimaginable five or ten years ago. And it makes me extraordinarily hopeful about where we can go as a country," he said.

"This is our one year anniversary today — it's been an amazing year. Through the Recovery Act, the Administration was able to save between 300,000-350,000 jobs — teachers, social workers, counselors — we were able to stave off an education catastrophe," Duncan told the mayors. "We're worried about what happens going forward, but it's a huge step in the right direction."

Outlining the Department's priorities regarding its Race to the Top initiative, Duncan highlighted the raising of standards, transparency around data, and thinking about how we get our best teachers, our most committed principals into underserved communities as keys to the reform effort. "Talent matters tremendously in education," he said.

"So much of our focus on the achievement gap is to close the opportunity gap," he continued. "The only way we can do that is by getting great talent where we need it most."

Next, the Department wants to focus on challenging states and districts to turn around low-performing schools. Two-thousand high schools account for 50 percent of the dropouts in this country. Those schools produce 75 percent of the minority dropouts across the U.S. "That's simply unacceptable, and for years we've tinkered around the edges of real reform," Duncan said. "That's not good enough, we want to get dramatically better."

Forty-one states applied for Race to the Top funding under the Recovery Act, Duncan told the mayors. "These are folks willing to challenge the status quo. We hope to lead the country where it needs to go with those first applications and those who don't win, round two will be coming in June with rewards going out in the Fall."

Duncan highlighted President Obama's recent announcement of his intent to include $1.35 billion in his FY 2011 budget for Race to the Top going not just to states, but directly to local districts. "Education is a local matter," he said. "We want to continue to empower you and your local superintendents. Please work with your superintendents to look for the extraordinary opportunities to bring scarce resource to your districts."

With respect to No Child Left Behind (NCLB) reauthorization, he stressed the need for higher standards, better teacher evaluations and better recruiting of teachers in underperforming schools.

"NCLB was very loose on goals, and very tight and prescriptive about how you get there. We want to turn that on its head and be very tight about goals, but very loose and giving you flexibility and autonomy to hit that higher bar."

"We have to educate our way to a better economy," Duncan said in closing. "We have a 27 percent dropout rate nationwide, and it's significantly higher in many cities. That's 1.2 million students every single year leaving our schools and our classrooms, going out onto the streets. That is economically unsustainable and morally unacceptable. Our entire goal is premised on the idea of dramatically reducing the dropout rate, dramatically increasing the graduation rate, and getting our students ready for the world of work."