By Libby George, CQ Staff
After 18 years as a Democratic House member and then four as West Virginia's governor, ending in 2004, Wise now campaigns for better high schools as the President of a nonprofit started by Gerard and Lilo Leeds, the couple who founded the tech company CMP Media Inc. Wise warns that the nation neglects high schools at its peril, and in his new book, "Raising the Grade," he argues for more spending and attention to raising graduation rates.
Q. With Congress and the country focused on the No Child Left Behind law, which covers elementary school education, why move on to high school reform?
A. Schools are held accountable for how well they do on the tests, not whether the kids actually graduate. It's like you're running in a mile race, and assessing rigorously every 10th of a mile, but nobody counts whether you cross the finish line.
Q. Can Congress be persuaded to take on this expanded federal involvement?
A. Members on both sides of the aisle, as well as the White House, have said that high schools need to be part of the new law. So the answer is yes.
Q. Even if you got the $<5 billion you want, can it really make an impact?
A. There are successful schools with a high percentage of low-income students, which every year graduate large numbers of students and send them to college or to good jobs. But you have to have the will. And that's where Congress comes in.
Q. How do you persuade the country to spend that kind of money?
A. Cutting the dropout rate in half would result in $45 billion more a year in tax income and savings. That to me is the real economic stimulus package.
Q. People have been talking about this for years. What's different now?
A. We didn't feel it directly before. We're feeling it directly now. We were losing low-skill jobs. China and India weren't threats to us for high-skill, high-paying jobs. Now they are. So the civil rights and equality imperatives have now merged with the economic and national security ones. p
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