Obama to discuss U.S. education system

MADISON, Wis., Nov. 4 (UPI) -- The administration has ponied up $4 billion for education reform, challenging states to commit to educational changes, U.S. President Obama said Wednesday.

"We're saying, if you're committed to real change in the way you educate your kids; if you're willing to hold yourselves more accountable; if you develop a strong plan to improve the quality of education in your state, we'll offer you a big grant to help make that plan a reality," Obama said when explaining the Race to the Top award before an audience at a public charter middle school in Madison, Wis.

A quality education no longer is just a door-opener, it is a necessity to enter the 21st century global job market, Obama said.

"The prosperity of our nation has long rested on how well we educate our children. But this has never been more true than today," he told the audience at Wright Middle School. "In the 21st century -- when countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow -- there is nothing that will determine the quality of our future as a nation or the lives our children will lead more than the kind of education we provide them."

States applying for grants, available sometime after Jan. 1, will be scrutinized to make sure they measure up, Obama said. Criteria include commitment to higher standards and better assessments; commitment to putting "effective teachers in the classroom and effective principles at the helm of its schools;" progress toward raising graduation rates, and the state's focus on improving lower-performing schools.

"These are the four challenges that states must take up to win a Race to the Top award," Obama said. "And these are the four challenges that our country must meet for our children to out-compete workers around the world, for our economy to grow and prosper, and for America to lead in the 21st century."

Improving educational opportunities will take more than federal government -- it will take the work of state and local officials, principals and teachers, parents and children, Obama said.

"It will take each and every one of us doing our part on behalf of our kids, our country, and the future we share," he said.