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Washington Post: Propping up Education Status Quo Wastes More Than Money

If you’re like us, when you opened up the Washington Post editorial page this morning, you did a double-take.  After all, it’s not every day that one of the nation’s premier newspapers states so clearly what we’ve been saying for years:  it’s not how much money you spend on education, it’s what you spend it on.  To sum it up even better: results matter.   Consider, a few of the Washington Post’s editorial points from An Education Stimulus? –

“Education is poised to win big under the economic stimulus plan hurtling through Congress. But it remains to be seen whether America's schoolchildren really will be helped by the huge investment of public funds that is being planned. After all, it seems that much of the billions of dollars of new federal spending is aimed at continuing programs and policies that largely have failed to improve student achievement. For the amount of money being spent, Congress should insist on real change, not simply more of the same.”

“The plan shaped by President Obama and congressional Democrats proposes to more than double the current budget of the Education Department, with $150 billion of new federal spending over two years.”

“…Congress will not be getting its money's worth unless it insists on real reforms in what students are expected to learn and how teachers are compensated.”

“We understand the urgency of the need for spending that will jump-start the economy, but if Congress merely props up the educational status quo, it will be wasting more than money.”

The bloated, so-called “economic stimulus package” the U.S. House passed last night and the Senate is poised to pass next week is just more of the same argument that we’ve heard for years – that money will solve the problems in America’s schools.  We’re not saying money isn’t important, because it is.  But if more federal spending was the solution, those problems would have been solved long ago with the more than $500 billion federal dollars that have gone to elementary and secondary education since 1965.    The real solution is to hold states, schools, and school districts accountable for getting academic results for all children and fostering innovative reforms, such as replicating successful charter schools.  With this deceptively named economic stimulus package, Congressional Democrats are bankrupting future generations while failing in the effort to improve student achievement. Here’s hoping that saner voices prevail.

Posted by Education Policy Staff (01-29-2009, 05:43 PM) filed under Education

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