What is called America's education system has become a joke. According to the U.S. Department of Education, more than 40 million adults are functionally illiterate. That means they have not gained the basic reading ability we once expected of children in second grade. Only approximately 20% of our 4th grade students read at or above grade level.

Don knows we must do better. We need to get back to basics. We have to start thinking in terms of what each child should be learning-and what the child is actually learning.

Don Gustavson believes we have to make changes. We have to admit there are serious problems with education in America. We have to encourage competition and give parents a choice, and we must insist on accountability. Arizona, for example, now has almost 500 charter schools that are doing very well and saving the taxpayer millions of dollars.