Monday, October 18, 2010

Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them*

A good summary ('though it flubs the niceties of education policy) of implications of the midterms on Obama's education plans:
With partisanship at record levels in the run-up to the midterm elections, Obama’s education-reform agenda—once the calling card for his commitment to bipartisan good governance—is under threat from both the left and right.

...Stand for Children Colorado, an education-reform advocacy group, will spend between $150,000 and $300,000 on the campaigns of 18 Democratic and Republican supporters of SB 191 who have been targeted by the Colorado Education Association
(SB191 was the poorly researched and highly inflammatory bill that put a heavy emphasis on evaluating teachers by test scores, among other policy changes. Denver's superintendent has lost a great deal of parental support due to his support for national ed policy.And yes, the same Stand for Children.)
Whatever the outcome of the midterms (there's plenty going on other than ed policy), I'd hope that the president is hearing the amount of leftwing support he's lost on ed policy. When libertarians and progressives are agreeing that maybe it's time to get rid of the federal department of education, I'd say he's got a problem.


*reference intentional. The Charge of the Light Brigade was also poorly advised, had disastrous results, and was celebrated with high-flown oratory.

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