American taxpayers, businesses, and families are outraged by the nationalization of health care through Obamacare. They’re upset by the federal overreach, the loss of health care choices they’ll soon face, Obamacare’s astounding price tag, and the opaque process by which this massive legislation was enacted. If they found Obamacare upsetting, then Americans should take a look at the Obama Administration’s overreach in education. Last week, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) did just that, examining the push for national standards during a meeting of its Education Task Force. For the …
Out-of-control spending has been the theme of 2009. In his first fifty days in office, President Obama and the 111th Congress spent one billion dollars an hour. Using money to bail out the states, 40 of which are running state deficits, simply encourages more spending. In response, Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC) wrote a letter to the South Carolina state legislature explaining his decision to ask President Obama for a waiver allowing him to use federal stimulus money to pay down state debt. Also in response, and in good timing, the …
As Congress considered the unprecedented federal spending increase on education programs, Members should take the time to check out the American Legislative Exchange Council’s new Report Card on American Education. The report examines the condition of public schooling in the states and offers policymakers lessons from the experience of our laboratories of democracy. One key finding: simply spending more on education doesn’t guarantee better student outcomes. Former Education Secretary Bill Bennett summarized this point in a foreword to the report: The fact is that more dollars do not necessarily guarantee …
