Editors Note: The Daily’s Will Holland participated in a conference call with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to discuss President Barack Obama’s vision for the future of education in the United States.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan urged state and local education officials to be creative and use the money they receive from the federal stimulus package wisely while discussing President Barack Obama’s goals for preschool to college education.

The federal administration’s budget focuses on improving education at three levels, Duncan said during a conference call Wednesday.

“This budget addresses our three major buckets of work: early childhood, K to 12, and then the huge emphasis on really transforming access and opportunity to [the] higher education side,” he said.

Duncan said the administration is placing an emphasis on higher education to create more opportunities for those who might not be able to afford it.

“The idea of dramatically, dramatically increasing access and opportunity to college, millions more students literally receiving billions of additional dollars is huge,” he said. “And as you guys so well know, at a time when going to college has never been more important, it’s also never been more expensive.”

The administration is also aiming to increase the percentage of students who participate in graduate college because more participants would improve the nation’s workforce, Duncan said.

The federal package includes $2.5 billion to help states work with their local colleges and universities to improve graduation percentages, he said. The $2.5 billion will be dispersed over five years, the first being distributed early next week.

The administration will see how school districts use the first round of funds to determine which districts will get additional funding, Duncan said.

“And states that are simply investing the status quo will put themselves at a tremendous competitive disadvantage for getting those additional funds,” he said.

Duncan said he would like to see local officials use the money in the best and most creative ways possible.

“We’re going to do everything we can to make sure every single dollar is spent wisely,” he said. “This is tax payers’ dollars.”

OU faculty members are already thinking of ways to use the stimulus money the school receives. Members of the College of Engineering have made proposals to use the funding for projects like the development of electric vehicles.

Duncan also discussed the importance of improving education at the kindergarten-through-12th grade levels by rewarding teacher excellence, including incentives for good teachers who choose to 
teach difficult subjects in tough locations.

“What the president so clearly understands is absolute link between dramatically improving the quality of education and ultimately strengthening our economy,“ he said.