Now that both presidential campaigns are releasing additional details about their education plans, and their surrogates are yacking it up all over town (and all over the country), the shape of the debate is coming into sharper relief. Some of it is familiar stuff: the Republican candidate wants more school vouchers; the Democratic candidate wants more federal spending. Yawn yawn yawn.
But here's one interesting development: the debate appears to be transcending Washington's current focus on schools serving poor children. Think back to 2000, and you'll recall that both Candidate Bush and Candidate Gore targeted their policies on failing inner-city and rural schools. Partly that's because disadvantaged communities are the historical focus of the federal government. And partly it was because George Bush wanted to paint himself as a different kind of Republican--a compassionate conservative who cares about poor and black and Hispanic kids.
Fast forward to today, and the conversation is ever-so-subtly different. During the primaries, Barack Obama's biggest applause lines came when he complained that NCLB was forcing art and music out of the curriculum--worries held first and foremost by middle-class suburban voters. And the most expensive part of John McCain's education plan is his fund for virtual schools and other online learning--innovations that are taking hold in the leafy suburbs, and that aren't as well-suited (at least not yet) for distressed communities, relying as they do on parents to provide much of the instruction and oversight. (Yes, this could work for some poor families, but many are working multiple jobs and otherwise dealing with the challenges of poverty.)
In some ways, this is a return to the '90s, when President Bill Clinton masterfully appealed to suburban voters through his mini-issues like "class size reduction" and "school uniforms."
What will be really interesting is if the tension between "closing the achievement gap" and boosting our "best and brightest" becomes a focus of the campaign. As uncomfortable as that conversation can be, I believe that it would be good for the country. And with both candidates talking about education issues that suburban voters care about (and what suburban parent doesn't think his or her child is "gifted"?), it just might happen.
