Two months ago, when submitting its budget proposal to Congress, the Obama Administration crowed about its fiscal discipline and its commitment to flat-lining domestic spending (sort of). While education would receive an increase, it would be measured and responsible. Well that approach didn’t last long. This week Arne Duncan signed onto a bill promoted by Senate education committee chairman Tom Harkin that would provide $23 billion in more “edu-jobs” bailout funds for states and districts. "It is brutal out there," Duncan told reporters. "It is really scary. We're seeing massive layoffs around the country.” In fact, students are worried about losing their “favorite teacher,” he said. But as Duncan knows, said students will only lose said favorite teachers if unions force districts to abide by “last hired, first fired” rules instead of making lay-off decisions based on merit. (Yes, we’re assuming that ineffective teachers aren’t typically kids’ favorites; if they are, we’re in bigger trouble than we thought.) And with state and district coffers likely to remain strapped for the foreseeable future, Duncan and Democrats in Congress are just delaying the inevitable belt-tightening that’s yet to come. And regardless of what you think of this idea, we can all agree that announcing it right before Tax Day wasn’t the smartest politics.
“Duncan Calls on Congress to Pass Edu-Jobs Aid,” by Alyson Klein, Politics K-12 a blog of Education Week, April 14, 2010