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    Return education control to states and localities, and let all parents choose their children’s schools.

    Morning Bell: Washington Needs A Lesson on Student Loans

    You know a politician is looking for applause when he speaks in front of a crowd of college students and says he’s there to help them pay back their student loans. After all, who doesn’t like the prospect of free money? But as the saying (sort of) goes, beware of … More

    Washington Tries to Play Rich Uncle Sam on Taxpayers’ Backs

    In 2007, Congress halved the federal student loan rate to 3.4 percent but triggered the rates to increase to 6.8 in 2012. Now, Washington policymakers are debating whether or not to extend the 3.4 percent rate and hand the $6 billion “tuition” bill on to taxpayers. Despite claims by President … More

    The Rest of the Story on Student Loans

    President Obama is busy crossing the country and appealing to young Americans on the issue of student loans. He’s warning them of the possibility of increased interest rates this summer, which are set to double. Of course, there’s much more to the story than the president lets on. Douglas Holtz-Eakin explains … More

    College (Loan) Football: The Looming Interest Rate Hike

    Over the weekend, President Obama urged Congress to prevent a pending interest rate hike on student loans. While he argued that failure to keep interest rates low would be a “tremendous blow” to students, he failed to note that federal overreach into the industry is largely to blame in the … More

    Why States Should Hop Off the National Standards Bandwagon

    When “states signed on to common core standards, they did not realize…that they were transferring control of the school curriculum to the federal government,” said Sandra Stotsky, 21st Century Chair in Teacher Quality at the University of Arkansas’s Department of Education Reform, speaking at The Heritage Foundation on Tuesday. Stotsky … More

    An Education in Federal Compliance Burdens

    No Child Left Behind, the eighth reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, is 600-plus pages in length and contains programs that cost taxpayers $25 billion per year. The Office of Management and Budget has estimated that states are annually burdened with 7 million hours worth of … More

    Common Core Math Standards Fail to Add Up

    The push to nationalize the content taught in public schools across the country should be of great concern to state leaders. The Common Core national standards effort represents a massive federal overreach into what is taught in local schools, further removing parents from the educational decision-making process, and likely to … More

    What Does the Supreme Court Think About Washington’s Education Overreach?

    During the course of Obamacare oral arguments in late March, an interesting exchange between Justice Samuel Alito and U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli illuminated the Administration’s education overreach vis-à-vis national standards. Education Week reports: For the U.S. Supreme Court, the closely watched six hours of arguments last week were all … More

    President Obama’s Budget Priority: Eliminate the D.C. Voucher Program

    “Budgets are about choices,” stated President Obama in recent remarks to governors about his massive fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget request. Nothing more clearly demonstrates the Administration’s priorities than Obama’s decision to once again place the successful D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP) on the chopping block while simultaneously growing the … More

    Slum Dwellers in India Save for Private Schooling

    Since 2009, public education has been both free and required for all children between the ages of six and 14. Yet many families in Mumbai slums, where they lack even toilets and basic sanitation, save up their meager earnings to pay for private school education for their kids. A recent … More