will do something with them. i think of the federal government in the internet age as a place where we ought to invest in things that empowers states and people to do things for themselves, kind of in the way that apple created ipad. without telling you what the app is, a lot of people can use the app. here are four tools that we worked on, three in a bipartisan way. one is partisan in washington, but i don't think it is so much among governors. fairness,ketplace which is the issue for me of states rights. does the state have a right to decide for itself whether it wants to elect taxes that are already owed? that may come up in the next couple of weeks in the united states senate. especially the republican governors here, this is a good time to call your republican senator and say, let

us make our own decisions about our own tax base. i had a so-called conservative in washington tell me they did not trust fate to make those decisions. that is number one. that is an important tool, for you to have a sufficient tax base to make your own decisions, to avoid raising income and property taxes. that is number one. the second is the workforce it looks like. you can get things done, even in this united states senate. our committee has gotten a lot done. we have passed 20 bills. 14 signed into law. divideda very committee. all the liberal democrats here with tom harkin. we have rand paul and

here with me. i remember when our former democratic governor came up and talked to me. the i came in and looked at money that came through the intoorce investment act our 13 local boards and 75 one-stop senators through 44 programs he said, i just threw my hands up and told the commission or, do the best you can. i bet a lot of you have had that same experience here in is 10 billion dollars for governor haslam, $147 million on his number one issue, which is how to see connect job skills with the jobs he's recruiting. we try to make it easy for him and all of you to use that money. eliminated 15 programs, eliminated mandates on the size of the board compositions, restored the provision so you can take 15% of the money and

use it for your own innovations, local boards can transfer 100% of the two biggest funds between plans, funds, took state reporting requirements are simpler, you have more control over the local boards. i would've gone further towards state and local control. that inthe second tool a bipartisan way we have been able to get it done. here is a third tool. this is 20 million americans fill this out every year. this is what you fill out to get a federal grant or loan to go to college. it takes three or four hours and you fill it out every year and somebody audits it and then you probably made a mistake, so they don't send you your money until the second semester. in tennessee i would guess we have 400,000 tennesseean

families who fill this out. i was in an editorial meeting, and the editor, the business manager and the other person at the meeting had filled this out for their kids. everybody who fills out the application for governor haslam -- he has promised you can go to community college for free. a scholarship based on merit in tennessee, they have to fill that out. the testimony we have had is that all you need to know in order to know 90% of what you need to know to give this money twois the answer to questions. one is the size of your family and what was your income last year. senator bennet of colorado who was a school superintendent in and legislation that would turn this into this. [applause] it would save billions of hours.

about half the students have a pell grants, the more of them are eligible. they are probably intimidated by this and don't want to do it. we're going to take some of the money we save and have year-round pell grants, so you can move at your own pace. there will be one loan, one grant, and you will be able to apply in your junior year of high school rather than your senior year. this all just happened by well-intentioned people who reauthorize the higher education act. they said, here's a good idea. let's put it on the form. we will see how well we do. last thing, all three of those are bipartisan. this next one is partisan. it has to do with elementary and secondary education. the national governors

association has a lot to do with it. it is, what should the role of washington be in determining standards, curriculum, performance standards, accountability systems, and teacher evaluation in kentucky, nevada and tennessee, what should the role be. here,4, when you last met it was a year after a nation at risk. that is when secretary of education bell said if a foreign power had given us the mediocre schools we have had, we would consider it an act of war. all the governors got busy trying to change the schools in every one of our states. bill clinton was in arkansas and riley was in south carolina. we were all doing basically the same thing. in 1985, 1986 at the nga meeting, i was the chairman and bill clinton was the vice-chairman. for the first time since the beginning of the nga, we focused

the entire meeting on a single subject -- education. for five years, the nga worked on that agenda. president bush had a national summit. about voluntary national standards. awas education secretary couple of years later and i remember writing president bush this opinion about, i'm not being partisan, i'm just telling you the way it is, the democratic education bill -- i said i recommend you veto it because it creates at least the beginning of a national school board that can make day-to-day incisions on textbooks, classroom materials -- a federal recipe dictating how to operate a local school board does not make schools better. that was 1992. moving forward rapidly in 1994, states had another summit in 1996. you had governors of both

parties. we need national standards. in 2002, no child left behind. still states had the ball. 43 states worked on common standards here at 34 worked on two sets of tests. kentucky could pick one. ohio could pick another. 44 states did, and accountability standards. thecombination of race to top and waivers for no child left behind have created a national school board. the u.s. department of education has got you over a barrel. if you need relief from no child left behind -- which all of you -- you have to ask permission and then they require you to do a lot of things. have certainyou to standards. they require you to have certain

performance targets. the require you a certain way of dealing with low performance schools, and they require you to do teacher evaluation a certain way. here are the teacher evaluation requirements during -- requi rements. here is my point. i went through this teacher , 1980tion stuff in 1983 4, 1985, 1986. teachers -- asked 10,000 teachers voluntarily to go up a career ladder. if we had the federal government second-guessing us all the way up, we could not have done anything. they don't know how to do it any better than we do, and they don't know how to do it at all. we are all pioneering a little bit when we try to find a fair way to reward outstanding teachers, give them 10 months and 11 month contracts, pay them more for being good. there is a difference of opinion

in washington. it is a partisan difference right now. i don't think it is in the states. i don't think the democratic and republican governors would have the same difference of opinion than democratic and republican senators. you may want to talk to your senators between now and the end of the year. we need to fix no child left behind. you need to get rid of the waivers. we have two very distinct points of view right now in washington. on marketplace fairness, we are bipartisan. on this, we are bipartisan. on change in the workforce act, we got that done in a bipartisan way. the last looking over 30 years, governors ought to be in charge. we should fix no child left behind and when we do, we don't need a national school board to replace governors state school

boards, local school boards, and classroom teachers. those are my tools. >> senator, thanks very much. we are going to throw the floor open for questions, and i'm going to take the privilege as chair of asking the first one. thank you for pushing through the full restoration of that 15% set aside. as you mentioned, it was done in a bipartisan fashion. could you give us your insights on the second step, which is paying for it, in terms of appropriations -- are we going to be able to actually fund that 15% in the near future? >> yes, i think you will. it is $9.5 billion. , and it is inmber the current appropriations bills. the detailsnto about that procedurally in the senate, about appropriations.

that is the number we are working with, and if for some reason we did not get the appropriations process done properly, there would be a continuing resolution, and it would be at that number. once this authorizing law is signed by the president, that will change the rules of the game and you will be able to spend the money available according to the new rules which give you a lot more flexibility. senator, thank you for your presentation. i don't know if you had the opportunity to listen to the vice president. he talked about career and college readiness. there has been a big emphasis with regard to college here and -- college. do to help thess states to raise the awareness and visibility of the importance of career readiness in our schools? >> you are going to see a great example of it in a few minutes

here in the national schools. that is where it has to come from. can do is what i say. we need to be thinking not as governors in washington, but we need to be thinking of senators who are spending federal dollars in a way that empowers you to figure that out, and the national school district to figure it out. what i have introduced is a piece of legislation that would permit you to take 80 of the federal programs that have federal education dollars right $2100nd create a scholarship for every low income child in your state. that would probably be 1/5 of them. thats a lot of money, and $2100 would follow that child to the school the child attends. we will not tell you that you have to put in a school choice plan or do this or that. that is your business.

the money will follow the low income child to the school the child attends, and then the school can follow your innovation and leadership in figuring out how to solve that problem. that is what i mean by giving you a tool. we sit through this all the time. makes a good idea, let's everybody do it. there are 100,000 public schools. districts.ol we have governors. we have school boards. you don't get smarter flying an hour to washington. we should let you figure it out, and give you the tools. >> governor herbert. >> senator, it's great to have you here. i do recall when you were in utah, running for president, and you were very well received. part of your appeal was your proficiency on the piano. [laughter] and seeere in tennessee the great talent here in nashville, i see where you fit in so good.

pn o playing,ur and we want to hear -- piano pla ying, and we want to hear bill sing. >> the most musical states are utah and iowa, because people learn to sing in their churches and in their communities in both states. >> we appreciate your being here today to talk about an important issue affecting us all. we had a discussion earlier today about this very thing. congress has not reauthorized the elementary and secondary education act. for seven years. ist of the challenge we have that states are frustrated at no child left behind, and have by default embraced this waiver you are talking about. i guess there is a question, can the president even grant a waiver