Obamaschool is underway with minimal evaluation and debate in Congress. Why is this very large socialized education project just happening without the Congressional consideration health care required? President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan show up in a classroom for a presser and simply announce what is being done. What they are calling “Race to the Top” is the expenditure of $4.35 billion in grants to the states that empowers the Secretary of Education to very broadly judge what the states do with the money.
They have now announced another $1.35 billion in the next EdFed budget. Until this big reach from Washington into running our local schools is at least debated and passed in Congress, the money gush should wait. Do we need a Constitutional amendment to authorized federal management of local learning? Until we have settled these important questions about taxpayers costs and states rights, the cat in this post is speaking truth to power.
You can read for yourself what has actually been authorized relative to the Race to the Top project the Department of Education part of the Recovery Act on this webpage at the Library of Congress. SEC. 14006. STATE INCENTIVE GRANTS is apparently what authorizes the gush of money to states in grants that let the EdFed limit and judge what schools do with the money they receive.
Wesley Fryer says:
Obama and Duncan are merely continuing the same educational policies which gained momentum during the Bush administration. This agenda has strong support from the Gates, Walton, and Broad foundations. We shouldn’t mistake current educational policy under Democratic leadership for a NEW policy, different than that started under Republican leadership.
I recommend you read Diane Ravitch’s book, “The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education.” She connects a lot of dots. And, she’s a conservative, which I’m assuming you’ll like and appreciate.
8th February 2010 at 12:41 pm
Judy Breck says:
You are right that the socialization of American public education is not new. It goes way back, in a fundamental sense, to the notion of “public” funded and run schools. I was pointing in this post to the linking of federal funds to Arne Duncan’s approval of local policy. To the extent that the private money educationists support “Race to the Top,” they are as wrong and overreaching as Obama.
I have read and admire much of Dr. Ravitch’s work — especially her history of 20th century American education. I have learned a lot from her.
A global golden age of learning is dawning because the education establishment is going the way of VCRs and bundled journalism. Let’s build an open and individual learning commons for all children. The economic woes of “public” funding are making it easier to step away from educational policies whose momentum has kept learning from entering the connected age.
8th February 2010 at 1:47 pm