What Will Our Next President Do for Education

I read an article the other day, that said the United States has fallen to 18^th of the 24 nations examined, in educational effectiveness.  U.S. students were beaten out by the Asian nations of South Korea, Japan, and Singapore and by Finland, Australia, Belgium, Austria, Hungary, Netherlands and the United Kingdom.  Since the subject of education came up prominently in the last presidential debate, I thought we might take a look at what the two major party candidates plan for education, once one of them is elected.   

            With respect to the “No Child Left Behind Act,” McCain voted for it and still likes it.  He says he is willing to spend more money on helping struggling schools.  Obama generally does not like the law.  He particularly criticizes the standardized testing it requires and the punitive sanctions it imposes. 

            McCain wants to keep education funding at the current levels, but he would redistribute the funds to the more effective teachers and schools.  Obama says he would add $18 billion a year to education and pay for it by delaying some NASA programs and by funds saved by reducing our commitment to the Iraq war. 

            In my view, there were two problems with the NCLB act: depending strictly on standardized tests as a means of determining effective schools and that the act makes demands on schools, but did not provide adequate funds to schools to allow them to actually fulfill the demands.  You cannot solve these problems by simply redistributing funds already available.  To improve our schools nationwide, we will need to provide additional funds and revamp the NCLB act. 

            Both Obama and McCain favor performance based pay raises for teachers.  This is something that is generally disliked by teachers unions.  However, it seems to me that a performance based merit pay system can be worked out that is not based solely on the results of standardized tests of students learning.  Public school teachers are with our children about 7 hours each day.  In that time they do a lot more than provide kids with instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic.  Standardized academic tests are a poor way of measuring everything teachers do for their students.  If we try, we can find a way of paying good teachers for all they do. 

            McCain is opposed to teacher unions and wants to find a way around union contracts that McCain says stand in the way making schools more effective.  Teacher unions are necessary in order to protect the teachers who do so much for our children.  Consider our local school system.  Teachers in Richmond have worked for the last three years without a pay raise because the school administration is stonewalling the contract negotiations.  Because they care for the kids under their guidance, our teachers have continued to work without a contract and without a pay raise, when some (myself included) would argue that should have gone on strike. 

            McCain has made school choice a centerpiece of his education program.  He wants to expand the federal voucher program.  He says that competition will cause weak schools to improve.  Obama is opposed to vouchers.  Instead, he says he wants to double the federal money for charter schools.  Personally, I’m ambivalent about vouchers and charter schools.  I like the idea of parents having a choice, but I’m not sure that competition is always the best way of improving poorly performing schools. 

            With respect to college, McCain says he is willing to support increased federal financing of Pell grants and low-interest college loans.  Obama, on the other hand, will give a $4,000 tax credit to college students who will perform 100 hours of community service a year.  He would also provide full tuition to students who would perform some national service such as joining the military or the peace corps.