EDUCATION

The Firm is committed to pushing for policies that reward schools that ensure each and every American youth is:

• Not just schooled but truly educated so he or she completely understands what he or she learns in public schools, and is therefore able to apply it in life;
• Always doing well in studies so he or she never drifts down the road to drugs and crime in the first place;
• Trained to be responsible for securing the means of his or her own survival, and to live ethical lives so he or she does not oppress others.

The need for smart changes in policy is evidenced by the fact that public education statistics in America have been trending down for several decades now. Despite the fact expenditures for public education in 2002–03 totaled approximately $388 billion — a $19 billion increase over expenditures in the previous school year — and per pupil expenditures in unadjusted dollars for public education in the 50 states and D.C. have risen from an average of $2,307 in 1980 to $8,044 in the 2002-2003 school year, the performance of U.S. 15-year-olds, as measured by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), in mathematics, literacy and problem-solving was lower than the average performance for most Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.

According to a recent government report, The State of Literacy in America, released by the National Institute for Literacy (NIL), there has been a significant growth in illiteracy in America — over 90 million adults are functionally illiterate or near illiterate, without the minimum skills required in a modern society.