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Education: Just Throw More Money At It!

In the last Presidential debate, slated to be a foreign policy debate, President Obama made numerous attempts to shift the focus to education. Yet, his record on education hasn't improved the situation, and the policies he has quietly put in place only add more to the debt the nation's children will have to pay.

The controversial No Child Left Behind education law has been completely gutted under President Obama, with 26 states currently relieved of the duty to make all students proficient in reading and mathematics by 2014. Sidestepping Congress, the Department of Education gave the states waivers in exchange for their agreement to meet new goals which make them eligible for the administration's Race to the Top grants. While No Child Left Behind focused on consequences for schools that failed to meet standards, Race to the Top instead rewards schools for achievement and is aimed at only the bottom 15% of schools.

The cost for the President's new program will be $4.35 billion, which is only a small portion of the $69.8 billion he has proposed for discretionary spending for the Department of Education. Overall, the President's education budget would be a 40% increase from 2008. Despite the President's insistence that increasing spending is the answer to the country's education woes, research has shown performance-based pay does not work. Programs in New York City and California have previously been deemed unsuccessful and pay for performance has been noted as being "more useful politically than it is effective educationally." In the cases of Virginia, Florida and Washington D.C., the President's new grants have even led to race-based goals in order to qualify. While Virginia went back to the drawing board and now have all students with equal proficiency goals, Florida and D.C. were rewarded with money from the Race to the Top program.

As for alternative programs to improve the nation's education, President Obama seems to prefer his grants alone. In their previous debate, that actually had education on the agenda, Governor Mitt Romney brought up his support for school choice. While school choice programs have been extremely successful around the country, the President continues to fight against them. In D.C., he tried to eliminate charter schools completely and only funded the district's scholarship program (that provides students with vouchers) after a bipartisan effort begging him to approve the funding. Even many Democrats have come around to the idea of school choice, seeing it as a civil rights issue. "If rich white kids can go to the school that best fits them, why can't we provide the same opportunity to poor minority kids?"

Ultimately the President is desperately trying to pander to teachers and teacher's unions for votes. His policies don't reflect a President who is serious about changing education in the United States. Should President Obama win re-election, America's public education will continue to disappoint and fail to unlock the potential that resides in the next generation to inherit our country.

I'm glad they gutted NCLB. It was a horrible idea anyway. I'm a public school teacher in a low-income neighborhood and it's impossible to meet the standards set out by NCLB when you are faced with the situation we are faced with. We have only the lowest-performing students at our school, because "school choice" lets the better kids leave and go to charter schools. We have no funding for the materials needed to properly educate the children because the property values in our area are so low, and we get funding partially from the local property taxes. The children are not encouraged to learn at home because their parents are all on welfare and have no motivation themselves, and don't know elementary math, so can't help them with their homework. Everything about the situation is pointing to failure. So what do we do? We take funding away from the kids who need it the most. These kids have everything going against them. They need money for afterschool programs, teachers aids, smaller class sizes, arts programs, computers, etc. to give them the kind of education that removes them from the cycle of poverty. What they DON'T need is to be punished for being in a bad situation. The school is underperforming because it is being set up to fail. Give the kids some help and encouragement and they might have a chance at succeeding. Punish them because they missed AYP by 1 point and you're just feeding the cycle.

There seems to be the misconception that school choice advocates are either vigilante parents or rebel educators. They visualize parents storming the school with pitchforks and torches to rescue their children. They picture teachers and administrators leaping ninja-like to the other side of the fence to rage against the system. They couldn’t be more wrong. Take me, for example. I have yet to have any children, I’m not connected to the educational system in any way, and I love school choice. For the record, I do not own a torch and have never leapt a wall.

Monopolies don't work, and one of the best things about school choice is that it forces educators and schools to compete against each other for students. This makes everyone step up their game, and the students are the ones to benefit. Some have questioned if public schools would be willing to compete in a free market setting but, in the wake of a parent trigger being invoked in Los Angeles, the local district is doing just that.

School Choice Week is here at last! FreedomWorks shares the passion of National School Choice Week to help all children gain access to a better education. As part of this effort, we are co-hosting an event this Thursday, January 31, in Erie, Pennsylvania and hope you can join us!

National School Choice Week 2013 kicked off Friday night at a packed house in Phoenix, Arizona. The annual event, which this year runs from Jan. 27 to Feb. 2, highlights a diverse selection of educational options for all kids. It made sense to launch this year’s effort in Arizona, a pioneer in school choice initiatives.With more than 7,000 attendees and thousands more watching online, this was the biggest kickoff ever for National School Choice Week. The occasion is just the first of more than 3,500 independently planned special events that will be held across all 50 states.

Mississippi students have some of the weakest test scores in the nation but, as of today, the way is paved for better results and a brighter future. This morning, Mississippi’s House of Representatives passed a charter school bill (65-55), clearing one major hurdle. Now, differences between the House and Senate bills need to be resolved.

Here we stand, in the days between Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and National School Choice Week. To many, these two events might have little in common. If you scratch the surface, however, they are inextricably linked. In fact, many would agree that school choice is the civil rights issue of our time.

When children are trapped in failing schools, parents sometimes feel as though they are powerless to improve the situation. Fortunately, education reform is gaining momentum around the country, and parents have become more educated, organized, and empowered to make the best decisions for their children's education. One of the most dramatic examples of parent empowerment is the Parent Trigger, which allows parents to turn an existing failing school into a charter school, replace employees, or close the school entirely.

Today, President of National School Choice Week, Andrew Campanella joins me to discuss events happening around the nation to bring attention to the need for educational options and how you can get involved.

Education reform advocacy group StudentsFirst, led by school choice champion Michelle Rhee, has released their State Policy Report Card. This report card was designed “to evaluate the education laws and policies in place in each state.” The study used three forms of criteria for evaluation to find states in which schools: Elevate teaching, Empower Parents, and Spend Wisely & Govern Well.