Deputy Assistant Secretary for External Affairs and Outreach Massie Ritsch will visit Springfield City Schools on Wednesday, Nov. 16, to learn about the district’s innovative programs aimed at improving students’ college and career readiness, and to discuss the President’s proposed American Jobs Act.
Ritsch will meet with students, parents, teachers, administrators, elected officials, business and higher education leaders, and community partners to discuss how new initiatives that receive federal Race to the Top funding address social and economic challenges that impact student achievement and advance education reforms. These initiatives include a Family Academy that will provide education and training opportunities for parents, and Lincoln Promise Neighborhood, which aims to revitalize Lincoln Elementary School’s neighborhood.
In addition, Ritsch will discuss the impact of the American Jobs Act on Ohio’s schools in separate sessions with Springfield High School journalism students and with local elected and business leaders. In Springfield and the state of Ohio, the American Jobs Act would provide:
–$985.4 million for modernization efforts to rebuild crumbling buildings and classes, which could help begin work on long overdue upgrades to schools and classrooms, supporting an estimated 12,800 jobs.
–$1 billion to the state—enough to prevent an estimated 14,200 teacher layoffs for one school year.