EMBOLDENING CITIZENS AND LEADERS TO STAND UP FOR OUR FUTURE July 31, 2010 
CABINET HOME
BACKBONE HOME


 
Help make the Progressive Cabinet
a reality
Join our Mailing List
Click Here
Sponsors

The Backbone Campaign

Progressive Government Institute

Progressive Democrats of America

WeCount.org

Utah Democratic Progressive Caucus

Democrats.com

Texas Progressive Populist Caucus

Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club

Progress Now

Grassroots for America

Reclaim the Media

Cities for Peace

Global Exchange

Code Pink

Back to Backbone Home

Position: Secretary - Education

The U.S. Department of Education establishes policy for, administers, and coordinates most federal assistance to education. It assists the president in executing his or her education policies for the nation and in implementing laws enacted by Congress. The department's mission is to serve U.S. students, to ensure that all have equal access to education, and to promote excellence in the nation's public schools. It is the job of the secretary to see that these missions are carried out effectively. The secretary is responsible for ensuring that this happens.

Type of Appointment/Position: Presidential with Senate confirmation    

Angela Valenzuela Rate this Nominee   Current Rating: click to rate
Nominee's Background:

http://www.edb.utexas.edu/faculty/scheurich/proj8/valenzuela/valenzuela.html

Nominating Speech:
Dr. Valenzuela was a keynote speaker at the 2004 Conference on Education, Labor and Emancipation: http://ia.utep.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=5525 At this conference it was made known that she was indeed in the running for Kerry's secretary of education. Her presentation was magnificent, and she proved herself a progressive dream candidate for the position.

Nominated by: Jonathan H. Harwell

To research this nominee, please look for them on the Wikipedia website or at Google.
Progressive Criteria:
The Education Department will

Support true academic standards and reject punitive standardized testing that deprives schools of funding solely because of low test scores;

Support not penalize school districts that need extra help because they have many poor, minority or immigrant students;

Work to restore public education as an effective vehicle for social mobility, as it has been for so much of our country's history;

Open up many routes to higher education;

Improve teacher pay, dignity and respect;

Reject voucher systems and other privatization schemes;

Protect our students from commercial influences and marketing in their schools;

Understand that in addition to training for good jobs, the public education system must educate responsible, engaged citizens.

Comments so far:
July 17, 2005 T. Rodrigues - Dr. Valenzuela is of sterling reputation and dedication to her principles (which are democratic, not despotic). She would be a wonderful addition to any public office and I wholeheartedly endorse her for any post.

June 25, 2005 Anonymous - Dr. Valenzuela demonstrates her masterful skills of analysis, compassion and committment to education in her book Subtractive Schooling. In this text, she clearly recognizes the important role that education plays in a democracy and speaks to the changing demographic challenge facing public schools.

This is not a valid RSS document