Ronnie Musgrove on Education 2008 Senate challenger; previously Democratic MS Governor

Worked with Congress creating No Child Left Behind

A: Mississippi was the first state in the South to have our accountability plan approved under No Child Left Behind. I was one of the two governors designated to work with Congress on No Child Left Behind. I believe it follows our lead of improving our schools.

Q: Are you concerned about unfunded federal education mandates?

A: Washington has unfortunately followed the trend in special education of not fully funding mandates to the states. Recently Congress provided some fiscal relief to cover some of the unfunded mandates by Congress, but not all of them. The unfunded mandates have more long-term problems than short-term. We’re excited about improvements that have been made, though; and we believe test scores show a great indication of Mississippi being on the right track.

Require public schools to display “In God We Trust” motto

“Our nation was founded as a godly nation and we put it on our money: ‘In God We Trust,’ ” said Musgrove, who signed the bill as the American Civil Liberties Union threatened to bring suit.

The group maintains that requiring a reference to God in public classrooms violates the constitutional guarantee of separation of church and state.

Remove the 5% cap on teacher pay

Universities: settle the Ayers Case

Improve and invest in public schools.

Principles of the Democratic Governors Association:

IMPROVING PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND INVESTING IN OUR YOUNGEST CHILDREN

Democratic Governors are leading the way with highly-trained teachers, strong standards and accountability, increased funding to repair and modernize public school facilities, access to technology and computers, and more discipline and safety in the classrooms. Democratic Governors believe the most important aspect to insure a child’s education is to have the best possible teachers in the classroom. They believe that we must value teachers as professionals, encourage their development to be the best teachers they can be for our children and compensate them accordingly. Democratic Governors favor greater parental choice, but oppose measures that weaken public schools diverting taxpayer dollars to private schools with no accountability for results. Democratic Governors around the country are also forming innovative public-private partnerships to create programs to provide early childhood education, nutrition and health care services to ensure that our children have the best possible start in life.