Jeb Bush: We should have a national strategy for education
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The U.S. should work to develop a national education strategy to address any technological or resource gaps confronting students, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday at an Axios event.
What he's saying: "The access to education when you can't get to the classroom is limited or nonexistent for some and works for others. It seems to me we should have a national strategy using infrastructure monies that may come through Congress, the E-rate monies, which are in the billions of dollars, local and state technology budgets — all of this put together to create a national strategy is necessary to make sure every child has access to learning during these times."
- "We should be far ahead of the game then we are today. ... There has to be a national strategy, and there are the resources to do this and it should be the highest priority."
- "There needs to be a focus on using some of the money that’s going to be coming from the federal government to deal with the losses in learning that are taking place. That could be through summer school, can be through a more targeted accelerated approach when school starts in the fall."
- "I would add higher education is struggling with this as well. Both systems are really important for the long-term success of our country."
What's next: "It is impossible to imagine that we could come close to fully recovering without having our schools open, and they would have to open in a very safe way," Bush said.
- "You can't open the economy until it's safe obviously, but you can't open the economy if children are at home. There is no possible way. Most families have to have kids at school if they're going to be able to go to work. ... It's important for school districts to create clear transparent strategies about how they are going to open up."
Go deeper: Education experts bracing for a year of learning loss from coronavirus
Editor's note: This post has been updated with additional quotes.
