Statement by Randi Weingarten, president,
American Federation of Teachers
On President-elect Obama’s Economic Plans

WASHINGTON—President-elect Barack Obama is exactly right to place initial and intense focus on strengthening the economy with a recovery plan that targets both job creation and areas that have been long neglected. Understandably, we won’t see results quickly. If we don’t get started immediately, however, the situation will deteriorate exponentially.

 Obama has set an aggressive but worthy goal of creating 2.5 million jobs. The AFT is gratified that one of the job-creation areas that Obama sees as a priority is modernizing schools. Deplorable conditions in classrooms, hallways and bathrooms don’t provide an environment conducive to learning and teaching in the 21st century. Modernizing schools is a win-win-win situation—we can put Americans to work, the schools can use the latest energy-efficient technologies, and we can turn our schools into facilities that will help every child reach their God-given potential. That’s why school modernization is one of the 10 “smart investments” in public education that the American Federation of Teachers called for last week.

 Strengthening the economy and improving our public schools are intertwined, as President-elect Obama understands. The AFT looks forward to working with the president-elect and Congress to help bring America out of this immediate crisis and to strengthen the economy and our public education system for the years to come.

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