What can educators expect from the Obama administration?

by desertjim

Now that Barack Obama is the President-Elect, I thought it would be a good time to look in more detail at his education policies.

The campaign website has considerable detail on the priorities of the incoming Obama administration. The three top education priorities are to reform No Child Left Behind (NCLB), invest in early childhood education and make college affordable for all Americans. NCLB reform will be based on the premise that, “Teachers should not be forced to spend the academic year preparing students to fill in bubbles on standardized tests.” A comprehensive “Zero to Five” plan is intended to assist states in moving toward voluntary, universal preschool. Finally, an Obama administration will push to create a college tuition tax credit that will cover two-thirds of the tuition costs for public universities for students who agree to community service.

The President-Elect has promised to add $10B a year to federal preschool funding, recruit an army of new teachers, double federal funding for charter schools and find funding for the scholarships to those who agree to pursue careers in teaching. It is not clear at this time which of these education proposals will take priority. The massive federal budget deficits will certainly have an effect on any new spending for education. Some may be part of the overdue renewal of NCLB. Others, such as early childhood education may be introduced as separate bills.

The Wall Street Journal (which is no longer an unbiased source under Rupert Murdoch’s ownership) is reporting that the new president may put education on the back burner, due to the financial crisis he is inheriting. This opinion seems to be based wholly on an interview in October in which he listed education fifth in priority after the economy, energy independence, health-care overhaul and tax cuts for the middle class. I would argue that the economy, energy and tax cuts are all so intimately related that they count as one item and that education is absolutely necessary to creating a technologically able work force that will create and maintain energy independence.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan disagrees with the back burner assessment. Duncan said that education has been pivotal to Obama’s personal story and he predicted, “A very strong, aggressive and comprehensive strategy...this is something that is hugely important to him.” It will be important that the education community pay attention to what happens in the first 100 days of the Obama/Biden administration. The campaign emphasis on improved education must be continued and turned into actual legislation as soon as possible.

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