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Department of Education Choices
Written by on August 26, 2011, 12:00 PM
The 2012 presidential election looks to be as close and more contentious than the 2000 Bush vs. Gore battle. With a solid 45%+ of the nation opposed to President Obama’s leadership, a small percentage of voters will be the deciding factor.
Our nation currently sits in a self-imposed malaise, voters will be making their electoral decision based on not only economic factors, but weighing the candidate’s vision for the future. How will they improve education? What is our plan for the War on Terror? How will we rebuild our manufacturing sector? A majority of voters believe in American Exceptionalism and as a result will weigh seriously what the candidates propose to get us to preeminence again One factor that may be worth reviewing now is possible cabinet choices in a Republican administration. These men and women will be responsible for implementing the next President’s vision and getting results. Today let’s start with Department of Education. This is not a forum for debating eliminating the department. Until you garner 60 Rand Paul’s or Mike Lees in the U.S. Senate, such a prospect is a fairy tale. The future of education in America—and by extension, our ability to continue to be a dominant global player—hangs in the balance today. Whom the eventual Republican nominee selects as his or her pick for the next Secretary of Education will have a lasting mark on the education reform forecast for the next decade. The last two decades has ushered in some of the most exciting education innovations ever conceived of—from charter and magnet schools to comprehensive voucher programs to education savings accounts and additional alternative models. But the teachers’ unions have been present at every turn, ready to squelch any progress made. The reason is simple: Modern-day unions are designed to protect their weakest members, and meaningful education reform requires making the business of education competitive. The teachers’ unions will not get behind programs that might send thousands of their members packing, base teacher pay on merit or that may terminate their educational monopoly on our children. The National Education Association has already endorsed Obama’s bid for re-election, regardless of who wins the Republican nomination in 2012. So since the teachers’ unions apparently already have dispensed with bipartisan niceties, here are some picks for Secretary of Education in 2012. This list may alternatively be dubbed: “Enemies of Teachers’ Unions.” First up is Dr. Patrick Byrne, Executive Chairman and CEO, O.Co, a man passionate about education and dedicated to ensuring every child has an opportunity to pursue the American Dream. He is former chair of First Class Education whose goal was to change state laws to require schools to spend at least 65 percent of their operating budgets on classroom expenses and is currently co-chair of The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice. Byrne is a long-time supporter of innovations in school choice, a savvy entrepreneur which, combined with his no-nonsense approach to teachers’ unions, would make him a strong Secretary of Education. Clint Bolick, Director of Constitutional Litigation at the Goldwater Institute and the former president of the Alliance for School Choice, would make another excellent choice for education chief. Bolick was the lead attorney in the landmark case Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, in which the Supreme Court found that voucher programs were constitutional. Education savings accounts were Bolick’s shared brainchild with former colleague Matthew Ladner, who now serves as an advisor to Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education. Ladner, who also hails from Alliance for School Choice, is yet another example of the sort of innovator the country needs as its next Secretary of Education. Perhaps the most obvious choice for any Republican nominee mulling over whom to select for Secretary of Education is Michelle Rhee. Rhee gained national attention last year when she was featured in the hit documentary “Waiting for Superman,” which, among other things, detailed Rhee’s fight —and subsequent failure—as chancellor of Washington schools to enact reforms such as teacher tenure. Shortly after the film was released, Rhee was drummed out of Washington. Having retreated to California, she is now running Students First, a group she founded to put an end to education roadblocks such as teacher tenure. The eventual Republican nominee would do well to pick a reformer who believes that the industry of education—the business of preparing America’s future generations—is one that involves a great deal of rigor and out-of-the-box thinking, rather than a playground for teachers’ union politicking. Chuck Warren is a board member of Pass the Balanced Budget Amendment (PasstheBBA.com) and a partner at Silver Bullet, LLC. New CommentComments are not enabled for this post. |
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