The Friedman Foundation has published an excellent report detailing the administrative bloat plaguing our nation’s public schools. The School Staffing Surge: Decades of Employment Growth in America’s Public Schools shows dramatic increases in teaching and non-teaching staff over the past five decades despite modest increases in student enrollment. As we …
Policy has real-life consequences—a fact that has been especially true for schoolchildren in Washington, D.C. For low-income schoolchildren in the nation’s capital, the Obama Administration’s opposition to school choice is taking its toll. In 2009, the future of the highly successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) was uncertain. Due in …
Almost as heartbreaking as burning books, a move by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education will rank among those incomprehensible moments in human history when we seem to be handicapping ourselves for no reason. Lifelong learners, students wanting supplemental courses, professionals, and Americans across the country interested in enrolling in …
Calls to spend more on teachers are likely to come up in tonight’s debate. More likely still, we’ll hear accusations that Governor Mitt Romney wants to slash education spending by 20 percent. This figure is a reference to the House of Representatives-approved budget, authored by House Budget Committee chairman Paul …
Last night’s presidential debate included quite a few specifics on education policy from both President Obama and Governor Romney. President Obama’s call for more federal spending on education was no surprise. But his choice to highlight the Administration’s involvement in pushing states to adopt national standards and tests was remarkable. …
On Tuesday, Education Secretary Arne Duncan delivered a back-to-school speech of sorts at the National Press Club in Washington. During the question and answer period, an audience member asked Secretary Duncan: “What would be the biggest difference between a Romney and Obama administration on education?” Duncan responded: I think the …
Federal intervention into education has been a growing problem over the past four-and-a-half decades and is being supersized by the Obama Administration’s current efforts to push states to nationalize their standards, tests, and, ultimately, curriculum. Heritage has been sounding the warning bell about the Common Core national standards push and …
