Education Law

More education peeps from presidential politics

A few more blips on the Education President Radar this week.

First, Ben Boychuk and Joel Mathis from Scripps-Howard have a very brief back-and-forth in which Boychuk points out that President Bush has done more to expand the federal role in education than any president since Johnson (with, he says, less than stellar results) but Mathis says it's pretty clear McCain isn't especially interested in education. Seems to BoardBuzz both have a point: Democrats have to acknowledge that Republicans under Bush have departed drastically from their traditional aversion to federal efforts in education, but many Republican candidates still have a genius for marginalizing their relevance and undermining their credibility by lavishing disproportionate attention on fringe issues like vouchers.

Speaking of this latter infirmity, the Wall Street Journal had an editorial this week on the candidates' recent education pronouncements at the NAACP. It's the usual song of vouchers, charters, and other forms of privatization, but on this part BoardBuzz agrees with the Journal: "When the day arrives that these two candidates face off, we hope Senator McCain comes prepared to press his opponent hard on change, hope and choice in the schools." That would be a debate worth hearing, so long as it stretches beyond sound bites and focuses on improving student achievement and preserving public accountability.

For a good overview of these and other issues, check out Alyson Klein's article in Ed Week . Two additional noteworthy items there: alternative teacher certification and Supplemental Educational Services.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on August 01, 2008 (boomark / email).