Education Sector's Kevin Carey--a friend and occasional co-host of the Education Gadfly Show--hits the American Prospect this week with a provocative piece, "How the Dems Lost on Education." (Subscription required--how progressive is that?)
Mostly his essay is a call for Democrats to get on board the school reform train, particularly when it comes to NCLB-style accountability, charter schools, and public school choice. And he sticks it to the unions pretty good too. And for that, we reformers on the right should be glad, yes? But he also argues that the Democrats' "education policy failures" create "numerous political opportunities" for the GOP.
Well...I don't mean to be ungracious, but if we're talking about winners and losers, there's a strong case to be made that NCLB has been a boon to the left and an embarrassment to the right. What with its race-based accountability system, Great Society-style aspiration for "universal proficiency," disdain for the needs of high-achieving students (not to mention white and middle class kids), and enthusiastic expansion of the federal role in education, it looks to me that the Dems are winning big on education lately. And here's the kicker: they get to promote progressive policies and regain their historical political advantage on the issue to boot.
Compare that to the "Republican" scorecard. How are we doing on promoting educational excellence? Cutting red tape? Promoting private school choice? Making the public schools system more efficient? Getting rid of terrible teachers?
A more appropriate article for 2008 would be "How the GOP Lost on Education." Hmm, maybe I should write it.
