insurance market. you re now going to have essentially a voucher that doesn t keep pace with the rising cost of health care so the seniors will have to eat those costs. so what we re seeing now may end up being a minor skirmish compared to what happens when they when they make demands on the full budget. congressman chris van holland, i hope you guys can come up with some kind of a deal before midnight. i hope we can too. and the american people would obviously be much better served if we re able to do that. thanks, very much, congressman. and now our series on aรง stronger america, the black agenda. president obama s 2012 budget includes a 4% increase for education. while the republican budget plan sustains that spending level in the near term, it would slash 36% from the total in by the fiscal year of 2016. rod page was secretary of education for president george w. bush and joins us from houston. mr. secretary, great to see you
students. what would be the first thing that you would propose were you still secretary of education? one thing we know is that this period of time between a child when a child is nine months old, no cognitive difference in the performance of students along ethnic lines. this difference begins there, and escalates as you go towards first grade when they enter in school. so then we need to look at this period of time, we need to find ways to make sure when children arrive at school for first th of fundamental, cognitive development that is required to be successful in school. former secretary rod paige from houston, thank you very much. and be sure to watch our special show sunday at noon, noon eastern, hosted by ed schultz only on msnbc. i can t enjoy my own barbecue with these nasal allergies.
you wouldn t have a computer looking at the test score. it s in favor of the liberals on this one. one of the ways you have more competition is the transparentsy and accountability and you have parents who are able to evaluate teachers based on the performance. this will show which teachers are good and aren t. i don t think it works. rod page is all of a sudden becoming education secretary and we say hold on. they were cheating. that s what happens. there is no way to come up with a system. i agree with bill. with a you need to do is have competition. david: what about the cheating teachers who want to mark up the grades for the kids. it has to be based on test scores. we can have reviews of the teachers. the system is working in denver that worked out just like this one was before the management, between the management and the labor union. popularity contest with the kids? workable models. david: that s the last word. coming up, home depot adding workers for the fir
more teachers under fire today. this time, in new jersey. governor chris christie is unveiling his plan. some fear it could lead to layoffs. president obama is proposing education reforms that endorse firing teachers that under perform in schools. recently, newsweek tackled the problems with a look at the difficulty of firing bad teachers. i m joined by the author of that article, evan thomas. and with me today, former education secretary, rod page, who helped guide the no child left behind law in the bush administration. he s also the off of the black white achievement gap. secretary, let me begin with you. the president says no child left behind is due for an overhaul. do you agree? yes, i think in a lot of ways.