Education Issue Paper

Tyler Toussaint

Period 3

Rotation B

Issue Paper

Education Funding and Reform

            Education reform was an important issue in the 2010 elections.  The Democratic Party were focusing most of their energy on increasing test scores and helping students prepare for college and careers.  One of the ways they are planning to do this is by revitalizing the No Child Left Behind Act.  They are overhauling the act, creating a new blueprint that “[asks] states to ensure that their academic standards prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace, and to create accountability systems that recognize student growth and school progress toward meeting that goal” (Abrevaya par. 2).  Basically, rather than punishing for failure and looking strictly at end results, the new blueprint focuses on the growth of the students and rewards the educators for their success.  Realizing that the new blueprint will increase standards for each state, it proposes increased support for teachers and increased funding for education.  Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education, said “We’re offering support, incentives and national leadership but not at the expense of local control.  Our children have one chance for a great education.  Together, we need to get it right” (qtd. in Abrevaya par. 10).  The new reform will also empower teachers more.  It rewards them more for working with struggling students, preventing the inadequacy of the previous teachers from affecting them.  The main goal is to give the American Education system the ability to compete with other countries.

            The Republican Party has the same end goal, but they are choosing a more fiscally conservative approach.  Even though they want to be more conservative, they can not help but admit that the current funding is not enough.  Minnesota Republican John Kline, who is in line to succeed George Miller as chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, supported an increase in funding to help students with special needs through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA (eSchool par. 6).  However, Kline favored IDEA before funding any new education initiatives, such as programs that support job preparation, early childhood education and school construction.  He stated that “Challenging economic times are not the time for new and expensive experiments that siphon funds from existing programs and impose massive, unfunded mandates on state and local school officials.  Instead, we should devote our limited resources . . . to those programs with which schools re required by law to comply” (qtd. in eSchool par. 13).  Republican members of Congress also helped to form the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity.  This institution advises the Secretary of Education for matters regarding higher education.  The decisions are usually about the eligibility of an institution for accreditation, and enforcing those criteria (National Advisory… par. 3-8).  The Republican Party seems to have the same ideas as the Democrats, but their methods are both very different

            Both parties seem to believe that our education system needs more funding, and that our systems need to be reformed.  Both want to propel the American students into a competitive educational system, but they differ in the fiscal aspects of the reforms.    

Works Cited

Abrevaya, Sandra. “Obama Administration’s Education Reform Plan Emphasizes Flexibility, Resources and Accountability for Results.” U.S. Department of Education. (15 Mar 2010). Web. 14 Nov 2010. <http://www2.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2010/03/03152010.html>

“GOP Victories Could Affect Education Funding, Ed Tech.” eSchool News. (3 Nov 2010). Web. 14 Nov 2010. <http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/11/03/gop-victories-could-affect-education-funding-ed-tech/>

“National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity.” U.S. Department of Education. (8 Nov 2010). Web. 14 Nov 2010. <http://www2.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/naciqi.html>