U.S. Chamber Calls on Atlanta Business Community to Advance Education Reform

Launches 12-City Tour to Promote and Discuss Groundbreaking Film Waiting for “Superman”

ATLANTA, GA—The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s National Chamber Foundation today launched a 12-city tour that will bring together business and opinion leaders to view and discuss the groundbreaking movie on K-12 public education reform, Waiting for “Superman.”

Waiting for “Superman,” a film by Davis Guggenheim, the Academy Award-winning director of An Inconvenient Truth, from Paramount Vantage and Participant Media in association with Walden Media, opened in Atlanta October 8 and is opening in theatres across the country throughout the month. It tells the story of five children as they make their way through America’s failing public education system.

“This movie illustrates in poignant terms a broken public education system that is shattering the dreams of millions of children across our nation,” said Thomas D. Bell Jr., chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and chairman of Atlanta-based SecurAmerica, a national commercial security company. “Anybody who sees this film will quickly recognize that our children—and our nation—face a dark future without education reform that achieves greater accountability, better teachers, and higher standards.”

These events will bring together business, opinion and education leaders to discuss the actionable steps that can be taken to advance public K-12 education reform. Events will take place in Albany, Austin, Denver, Durham, Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, San Diego, St. Louis, Tallahassee, and Trenton.

The Chamber is using the film as a catalyst to discuss the crisis in the nation’s schools, the forces standing in the way of needed change, and the steps toward reform in each of the 12 communities. The Chamber is also providing local leaders with a toolkit to drive effective education reform initiatives in their communities in three key areas: great teachers and leaders, more innovation, and better data —suggesting important questions to ask of local education leaders and key actions to take that lead to improved academic achievement for all students.

The Alliance for Excellent Education estimates that if Atlanta reduced the number of dropouts by half for just one class year, the economic benefits to the city would be considerable. These additional high school graduates would likely earn as much as $160 million in an average year, allowing them to spend an additional $110 million and invest an additional $40 million during that year alone. This additional spending could be enough to create 1,200 new jobs and increase the gross regional product by as much as $204 million by the time these graduates reached the midpoint of their careers.

“Waiting for ‘Superman’ shines a spotlight on the lack of quality educational opportunities for students at many traditional public schools while highlighting the innovative offerings of public charter schools,” said George Israel, president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, a co-sponsor of the Atlanta portion of the tour. “These institutions are creating real options in Georgia and around the nation— and students who attend them are getting a jumpstart on becoming the highly skilled, highly compensated workers of tomorrow.”

The National Chamber Foundation’s promotion of Waiting for “Superman” is partly supported by a $1.5 million grant from the Daniels Fund, a Colorado-based foundation established by Bill Daniels, a cable television pioneer known for his generous support of innovative causes.

The National Chamber Foundation (NCF), a non-profit affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is dedicated to identifying and fostering public debate on emerging critical issues. We provide business and government leaders with insight and resources to address tomorrow's challenges.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations.

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