Mitt Romney: How Will You Ensure That Our Students Can Compete in a Global Economy? | Big Think

Mitt Romney: How Will You Ensure That Our Students Can Compete in a Global Economy?

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Romney, on preserving school choice.

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Mitt Romney:

Widely recognized for his leadership and accomplishments as a public servant and in private enterprise, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney currently serves as the Honorary Chairman of the Free and Strong America PAC.

In 2008, Governor Romney was a leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination and distinguished himself as an important voice in favor of strengthening our economy, military, and families. Elected Governor of Massachusetts in 2002, Governor Romney presided over a dramatic reversal of state fortunes and a period of sustained economic expansion. Without raising taxes or increasing debt, Governor Romney balanced the budget every year of his administration, closing a $3 billion budget gap inherited when he took office. By eliminating waste, streamlining the government, and enacting comprehensive economic reforms to stimulate growth in Massachusetts, Romney got the economy moving again and transformed deficits into surpluses. One of Governor Romney’s top priorities as Governor was reforming the education system so that young people could compete for better paying jobs in the global economy of the future. Romney was CEO of Bain & Company, co-founded Bain Capital and served as the CEO of the 2002 Winter Olympics. Born in 1947, Romney earned his B.A. at Brigham Young University and his J.D. and M.B.A. from Harvard University.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Question: How you make sure our students are globally competitive?

Mitt Romney: Well first of all we have to improve K through 12 – the education in the first years of . . . of a child’s life. That’s really critical. And Iowa has always been a leader in education. It needs to continue to be a leader in education. In my state I fought for high standards for testing for our kids before they get out of high school. I fought to make sure that our kids are taught in English in our schools. We have English immersion now. We used to have bilingual education. I think to be successful in America, you gotta speak the language of America. I also fought for school choice. My legislature passed a bill saying no more charter schools. I vetoed that. That veto was sustained, so I was able to preserve school choice. So that’s one thing we have to do.Number two, you wanna recognize excellence. And again in my state, I fought for the Adams Scholarship and got that instituted. If you graduate among the top quarter of the high school students in your high school, you get a four-year, tuition free scholarship to a Massachusetts public institution of higher learning. And finally I proposed at the nation level that all middle income families – that’s families earning $200,000 a year and less – would be able to save their money with a new tax rate in their savings. Interest, dividend, capital gains will be taxed at absolutely zero. Let people save their money so the kids are more able to have families that can help them prepare for the expensive burden of college.

Recorded on: 11/26/07