Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet today visited the P-12 Cheraw School, where he met with students, teachers, school leaders, and members of the community to discuss the unique challenges rural schools confront, including limited resources and difficulty attracting teachers.
“We have a responsibility to our kids and grandkids to provide a high quality education – no matter what zip code they live in – that will prepare them for success in college and careers in the 21st-century economy,” Bennet said. “Schools like Cheraw and the others I’ve visited over the past couple of days are working hard to educate our kids even with the distinctive challenges they face. We will continue to work here in Colorado and in Washington to empower teachers and principals and give school districts greater flexibility in order to create greater opportunity for this generation.”
As former superintendent of Denver Public Schools, Senator Bennet has been a champion for improving our education system with locally-driven ideas that empower our teachers and principals. In June, during committee debate of the bill to fix No Child Left Behind, he introduced an amendment to create an office within the U.S. Department of Education that would ensure rural schools and districts have a voice during the rule-making and implementation process.
This event is part of Bennet’s tour of the Eastern Plains to highlight issues facing the region and to discuss federal legislation that significantly affects rural Coloradans, including the bill to fix No Child Left Behind and the bipartisan immigration and farm bills.