Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced earlier this week that President Obama is committed to closing failing schools around the country. Since the President doesn’t have the power to close schools locally, he is encouraging school officials to close failing schools, replace principles, hire new teachers and possibly put the school in the hands of a charter school operator, according to the Associated Press. President Obama anticipates that 5,000 failing schools will be turned around in the next five years. The federal school turnaround program will be funded with $5 billion created by the No Child Left Behind law (which is being rewritten by the administration) and other programs.—WLW