Quotes from Michael Bennet

Anyone who thinks they're a progressive should be interested in making progress.

To me, the burden of proof isn't on people looking for ways to improve our schools; it's on people who want to keep things the same. Our current system isn't working, and too many kids are being left behind.

Before I was in the Senate, I was a superintendent of the Denver Public Schools, and before that, I was in business.

To get enough of the teachers we need, teaching has to be a great job where talented people are supported and rewarded.

I think the worst vote I ever cast was a vote to change the rules to lower the threshold for approval of judicial nominations and executive administration nominations.

Our goal in Washington must not be to impose but to expect and assist: Expect the most of educators and students and assist them as they work together to meet those expectations. Rather than tightening our grip, we should set clear, ambitious goals and support innovative local efforts to achieve them.

If we, as individuals, want to keep control of our democracy - rather than have a government paid for by corporate interest checks - then we have to fight back now and make sure our system reflects the belief that people, not corporations, control our democracy.

In my mind, there is no reason public school reform should be a partisan issue.

Fixing our schools must begin with reforming the way we attract talent to teaching.

We need to work with the other countries in the hemisphere so that they also have refugee policies in place so that people have a place to go and can escape the violence in El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala.

Our ability to compete for the jobs of tomorrow depends, above all, on our capacity to educate children today.

Health care is much the same - the status quo is, by all measures, failing far too many people - and we must not shrink from the challenge.

My time at the Denver Public Schools taught me there is no harder, or more important, job than being a teacher.

Improving some of the rules under which the Senate functions can begin to replace some of the bad habits Washington has developed with better ones.

Teacher compensation isn't the only factor in cultivating great teaching. Other important priorities include changing how we measure student performance, providing more flexibility to teacher-preparation programs, and improving how we train and support principals.

While NCLB drove important progress on transparency and data disaggregation, I think it's clear that the status quo in public education is not working for our kids or our country.

In my experience, durable progress must be fashioned out of more than obscured truth, slogans, and empty promises. You do it through hard work. By going everywhere. Listening to everyone. Being honest with people. Being ambitious without indulging in magical thinking.

We don't have to settle for Freedom Caucus tactics - those guys are tyrants. We don't have to accept that. In fact, we can't and have this country be what this country really can be.

When I was superintendent of Denver Public Schools, I saw the potential of some of our best and brightest students cut short, punished for the actions of others - kids who had grown up and done well in our school system, and kids who know no other home but America. This is unacceptable.

A stable and affordable home is fundamental to economic security.

Competitive programs such as Race to the Top provide incentives for communities to develop new solutions for old problems. Because of Race to the Top, states have raised their standards and committed to fixing schools that have persistently failed students.

Demagoguery is not unknown in American history.

Listen, I, I did vote - I did cast a vote for health care, and I also said that I thought the process was horrible. The status quo before we passed health care was also horrible.

Eviction often leads to a disruption in critical services like Medicaid and nutrition assistance when families need them most.