Goldman 12 point "Success for Life Education Plan"

Goldman for Mayor - 27 May 2008 - For Release at 11:15 AM, Contact: 804-833-6313

12 Point "Success for Life Education Plan" announced

Backs school uniform standards, merit pay, Green school construction, "Zero-to-Five" care and education initiative, mandatory health examinations, mandatory improvement in teacher credentials for teaching math and science, new advisory boards to help schools improve, better use of new City Charter authority to make school spending more cost-efficient, and a new success-pay initiative that will apply to the new School Superintendent, top RPS officials and the School Board.

(Richmond) - Paul Goldman, candidate for Mayor, said today that " as Richmond begins the search for a new School Superintendent, I believe it is incumbent on a candidate for Mayor to lay out the new ideas and new vision he would hope the new Superintendent would be willing to seriously consider, if not already share."

"My "Success for Life Education Plan" is so entitled because I believe what Senator Barack Obama had to say last November 10th was absolutely right, and so I have endeavored to bring together proposals expressed in his campaign platform, along with those of Senators Clinton and McCain, educational leaders along with adding my own ideas for a broad, non-partisan approach that can achieve real and successful change."

"Over the next few months, I will be adding other ideas and proposals, as we have our discussion on education, public safety, and the other issues facing our City."

In a statement, Goldman continued:

"In order to make sure we all work together to make all the progress we can, the Goldman Administration will enact the "Richmond Unity Council", so that the Mayor and the new School Superintendent, along with 6 other top city officials and 10 independent citizens, can work together on a regular basis to improve education, public safety and other areas.

In recent years, the Richmond Public School system has made progress. I applaud the efforts of all those responsible.

But any objective analysis of all the results has to conclude that given the per-pupil cost, the dropout rate, the SOL and SAT scores, disruption incidents and other relevant statistics, we continue to risk doing what Senator Obama rightly says our community must not permit.

We need to reject the same ole, same ole, and embrace fundamental changes for the good of our children and our community.

"Success for Life Education" Plan, part one:

* Support the use of school uniform standards, the precise definition I of course leave to the School Board and School Superintendent.

* Support the use of merit pay, on a system wide basis, as part of a comprehensive
plan to address compensation issues .

* Support the implementation of the my historic phase 1 "Construction Initiative" -
there have now beenseveral years of delay - which is the educational component
to my original "City
of the Future" plan. We should already be working on plans for phase 2. The delays
has already cost taxpayers many millions of dollars besides denying our children 21st
century "Green facilities", giving Richmond the unacceptable
distinction, at least to me, of having the oldest city schools in the state.

* Support a "Zero to Five" plan, aimed at providing needed assistance to young children
and parents at the earliest possible time.

* Support doubling the availability of after-school programs.

* Support implementation of my "Mobile Health Van" initiative which will provide free, and
mandatory health examinations [unless the parents provide proof that the child has already
received a health care exam ] to students to make sure we start attacking the root causes
of many physical and psychological issues facing youngsters at an early stage when
they are best addressed. We mandate health exams as a requirement to participate
in school sports. I would hope the School Superintendent and School Board would follow
the lead of other jurisdictions in making periodic health exams [3rd grade, 6th grade,
9th grade etc] likewise a requirement for all students to attend that grade.

* Support a "Math and Science Education" instructional priority by
addressing the need to greatly improve - in a mandatory way - the math and science
credentials of those teaching these subjects in city public schools both currently
and in the future.

* Support a "21st century Teacher Recruitment and Retention" initiative that will ask
local business leaders the area's educational community, and state government officials
to join the new Mayor in developing a public/private package of housing assistance, debt
repayment, residency scholarship and grant funds, and graduate degree advancement
incentives to keep and attract top college graduates as a way to encourage them to make
a career teaching in Richmond's public schools especially those
schools with the greatest educational needs.

* Support new approaches to address what national political and educational leaders
have admitted is a "dropout crisis" affecting not only Richmond but many inner city
school districts.

*Call on the School Board to adopt my "Advisory School Board" patterned after the
successful effort at Richmond Community High School, an idea I presented last month as
an initiative for George Wythe High School as a start.

*Pledge to far better use the budget authority that I worked to help get added to the City
Charter in order to better protect taxpayer dollars going for education, reduce wasteful
administrative costs in the Richmond Public School system, and thus provide a more
cost- efficient use of school dollars at great benefit to students and great savings to taxpayers.

*Support unprecedented success-pay initiative for School Superintendent, top RPS officials
and the School Board that will provide financial incentives for meeting tough,
new performance results