Today is budget day; all of Washington is abuzz. The U.S. Department of Education's budget details are here. What to make of them?
I hate to disappoint readers who enjoy a real slashing of the Administration, but the budget is pretty good. Very good, actually.
- ??? There's more??money for charter schools, for example, and in a manner that will allow dollars to flow to authorizers* and networks of schools, not just individual school start-ups.
- ??? There's LOTS more money for innovative pay programs for teachers and principals, including merit pay.
- ??? And big formula funds are either level-funded (including Title I) or reduced (including the Teacher Quality State Grant, which would take a $500 million hit). That's smart because additional dollars in those formula programs don't make a bit of difference in terms of driving reform, while well-designed competitive programs can leverage a lot of change.
To be sure, I'm not gaga over all of it. The new money for Race to the Top is surely premature, and I agree with Andy that additional funds for school turnarounds will mostly be wasted. But still, let's be honest: this is an education budget that a Whole Foods Republican could love.
* Our sister organization, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, authorizes schools in Ohio. Though, for the record, I'd be strongly opposed to taking federal money, even for this worthy enterprise!
-Mike Petrilli
