State To Get Federal Grant For Education

U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Madeleine Kunin visited Spokane’s Ferris High School on Wednesday and later praised its school-to-work program.

Kunin also announced that Washington state has been chosen to receive a $4.3 million federal grant to encourage programs similar to Ferris High’s program. Kunin spoke Wednesday at the annual Washington Water Power Co. Viewpoint luncheon.

Ferris students choose among five career paths and take classes that lead them toward a career goal. Kunin visited classes in horticulture, applied math, history and environmental chemistry.

School districts and teachers’ colleges will compete for money from the federal grant announced Wednesday.

Kunin, just back from the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women in China, said countries that invest in education will increase their productivity. She lamented action in Congress that threatens the school-to-work grants and other federal education programs by combining them and reducing money.

Evidence that America’s public education system is improving is growing, Kunin said.

“It doesn’t mean everything is perfect or that we should sit back and relax,” she said. “But this is not the time to pull the plug. This is the time to build on what has worked.”

, DataTimes