Communities across our country must constantly ask themselves if our children are getting the best possible education. It is not often that I agree with President Obama, but I do share his support for using meaningful performance pay systems to improve teacher quality and effectiveness. If we are going to give our students the best education, we must reward teachers who excel and give an extra effort.

I also believe that in order for the U.S. to remain competitive in the 21st Century economy we must emphasize math and science education. Our next generation’s engineers and scientists will need strong foundations in math and the hard sciences in order to compete with rising powers like China and India.