EVANS: School Reform Commission

What the city needs is a mayor who will continue to support the schools as they strive for excellence. After decades of mismanagement and poor student achievement, I helped to lead the formation of the unique city-state partnership that now runs the school district under the leadership of School Reform Commission Chairman Jim Nevels and CEO Paul Vallas.

Since I led this effort, we have seen five years of test score growth, increased graduation rates, decreases in the levels of violence, and significant new quality choices for parents such as the new Microsoft High School of the Future.

We still have more work to do, however. Our class sizes are too high, we do not invest enough in early childhood education, our classrooms are outdated, our dropout rates are too high, and some schools still remain unsafe. What we need now more than ever are more resources in our schools in order to continue the initiatives that have led to increased student achievement over the past five years: smaller class sizes, more time on task, and more quality options for parents and students. This should be our immediate focus, not the tired “adult food fight” over city versus state control of the schools.

I encourage you to view my full education plan at www.evansformayor.com.

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