Obama proposes doubling federal funding for charter schools at Dayton campaign stop

By Jim Siegel

Sen. Barack Obama today proposed doubling federal funding for public charter schools, the same schools that Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and an Ohio teachers' union have opposed. Spelling out his education agenda before a crowd of about 750 inside the Stebbins High School gymnasium just northeast of Dayton, Obama spoke to bread-and-butter issues for teachers, stressing the need for financial support and a desire to go beyond teaching to standardized tests. At the same time he dipped into some generally Republican-backed ideals, such as charter schools, teacher performance pay and getting rid of teachers who don't perform. As Sen. John McCain and his running mate Gov. Sarah Palin make headway in the polls with a message of change and a maverick image, Obama stressed the need to set aside the typical left-versus-right fights over public education. "There's been partisanship, and there's bickering, but there's no understanding that both sides have good ideas that we'll need to implement if we hope to make the changes our children need," Obama said.

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