Brown Challenges Locke: Schools Need Reform, not more Politics-as-Usual The Buck Stops Here

May 15, 2009

There's a crisis in Houston and it threatens the economy, safety and future of our city.
 
The dropout rate for Houston Independent School District is 49.9%, according to an independent study, which means nearly half of Freshman who enter schools in Houston don't graduate. It's a problem that disproportionately affects minority communities as Hispanic students are three times as likely to dropout of school as their white peers.
 

Sadly, my opponent Gene Locke would rather criticize me for claiming I was open to new strategies for dealing with the problem than actually face the problem himself. Rather than provide real leadership and new ideas, Gene Locke has decided to play the cynical blame game of political distortion. The state of our schools, to him, is merely another issue with which to score political points and he's gone so far as to misrepresent my views.
 
Our children don't have the luxury of waiting for overburdened schools to magically transform themselves. Houstonians deserve a mayor who isn't afraid to take on anyone, anywhere, anytime to help ALL of our children succeed.
 
I believe it's going to take more than weak promises of more dialogue to address this serious issue. Gene Locke said, in his attack, that he wants to "champion schools." I don't want to champion a system that's failing half our students, I want to fix it. I won't ignore possible solutions because it's the politically convenient thing to do. As your mayor, I'll make education a top priority and not a political football.
 
I'm running for mayor because I want to deal with the important issues, not avoid them, and there are few greater challenges for Houston than education.
 
The buck stops here,
Peter Brown
At-Large City Council Member Place #1