(AP) - John McCain told the
NAACP
and
some skeptical black voters Wednesday that he will expand education
opportunities, partly through vouchers for low-income children to
attend private school. The likely Republican presidential nominee
addressed the annual convention of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, the nation's oldest civil rights
organization.
In greeting the group, McCain praised Democrat Barack Obama's historic
campaign, but said the Illinois senator is wrong to oppose school
vouchers for students in failing public schools. It is time, McCain
said, to use vouchers and other tools like merit pay for teachers to
break from conventional thinking on educational policy.
Obama, he said, has dismissed support for private school vouchers for
low-income Americans.
"All of that went over well with the teachers union, but where does it
leave families and their children who are stuck in failing schools?"
the Arizona senator asked. "No entrenched bureaucracy or union should
deny parents that choice and children that opportunity."
In fact, Obama has spoken in favor of performance-based merit pay for
individual public school teachers, even telling the National Education
Association, the country's largest teachers union, in a speech last
year that the idea should be considered.
McCain received mostly polite applause in a room with some empty seats,
two days after Obama's enthusiastic reception from a standing-room only
audience hoping to see him become the first black president.
In his speech, McCain lauded Martin Luther King, Jr., as a leader who
"loved and honored his country even when the feeling was unreturned,
and counseled others to do the same."
In praising King to the NAACP, McCain used language similar to his mea
culpa in April on the 40th anniversary of the civil rights leader's
assassination, saying he had been wrong to vote against a federal
holiday honoring King.
The NAACP gathering on Monday heard from Obama, who said he would push
the government to provide more education and economic assistance, but
he also drew big cheers when he urged blacks to demand more of
themselves.
"Whatever the outcome in November," McCain told the crowd Wednesday,
"Senator Obama has achieved a great thing, for himself and for his
country, and I thank him for it. ... Don't tell him I said this, but he
is an impressive fellow in many ways."
During a question-and-answer session, McCain also sought to assuage a
frustrated Head Start teacher who complained that her salary from the
federal program simply isn't enough.
The woman, wearing a union T-shirt, said she was making $17,000 a year
and cannot afford housing, gas, food, or health care for her children.
"We cannot continue this way," she said.
McCain said the point of his education platform was to boost pay for "a
great and outstanding teacher like you" and other educators who are
passionate about their work.
"I want to reward good teachers," said McCain.
Members of the audience said afterward they were glad to have heard
from McCain, even if it didn't change their minds.
"Winning votes, I'm not so sure, but friends, yes," the Rev. Ronald
Terry, pastor of New Friendship Baptist Church in Macon, Ga., said of
McCain's appearance.
Marjory Shields, a Penn State extension nutritionist from Croydon, Pa.,
said McCain said nothing to make her waver from her support of Obama.
"I gave him the courtesy of listening to his platform. I thought that
in order for me to make an informed vote this November I really need to
hear what all the candidates have to say," Shields said.
"As far as my opinion on his speech, I feel he did not address certain
key issues I wish he would have elaborated on," such as more specifics
on education funding, she said.
McCain said vouchers and merit pay for teachers whose students perform
well are two important ways to help kids in failing schools.
"After decades of hearing the same big promises from the public
education establishment, and seeing the same poor results, it is surely
time to shake off old ways and to demand new reforms," he said. "That
isn't just my opinion. It is the conviction of parents in poor
neighborhoods across this nation who want better lives for their
children."
Both the merit pay and voucher proposals have met stiff opposition from
teachers unions. Obama has indicated he would support some kind of
merit pay system for teachers, if teachers help craft it.
Later Wednesday, McCain traveled to Omaha, Neb., where he toured Werner
Enterprises, a trucking company, and promoted his plan for a summer
suspension of the federal gas tax to help drivers cope with surging
fuel prices.
Werner executives said a yearlong gas tax holiday would save them about
$40 million, which could be spent on making their trucks more efficient.
Asked what individuals could do to lower the price of gas, McCain said
they "can practice conservation" and pressure Congress to allow more
offshore drilling for oil.
(AP) - John McCain told the
NAACP
and
some skeptical black voters Wednesday that he will expand education
opportunities, partly through vouchers for low-income children to
attend private school. The likely Republican presidential nominee
addressed the annual convention of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, the nation's oldest civil rights
organization. 
Subscribe
to Our RSS Feed