George W. Bush
School Choice & Charters
Bush’s Latest ‘Voucher’ Idea May Face Same Fate as Others
The ‘Pell Grant for Kids’ plan is being criticized by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Federal
Bush Budget Proposes Level Funding of Education Dept.
The U.S. Department of Education’s overall budget would remain stagnant at $59.2 billion under a fiscal year 2009 proposal released by President Bush that includes a modest boost for Title I grants to school districts.
Federal
Bush Calls for NCLB Renewal, ‘Pell Grants for Kids’
Some said the proposal appeared to be another attempt by the Bush administration to secure federal funding for private school vouchers.
Federal
Bush Presses NCLB Renewal on His Terms
As the federal law turned 6 years old this month, President Bush suggested he would favor few revisions.
Federal
Jousting Continues Over Budget Increase for Education
President Bush has pledged to veto a measure passed by Congress because it contains more money than he requested for education, health, and labor programs.
Federal
Bush Says He Would Veto NCLB Reauthorization Bill That Lacked Key Elements
President Bush said he would veto a reauthorization bill that did not include accountability rules and school choice measures.
Education
Opinion
Veto Threat Over NCLB Reauthorization
It seemed like it was coming, what with Spellings hinting at it last month and all the fun that's been had over the SCHIP veto. And this President has never lacked for confidence, warranted or not. So, yesterday, the President said he'd veto any effort to reauthorize NCLB without maintaining its main provisions (President Bush Discusses The Budget):
Education
Opinion
Bush's No-Name Cabinet
Slate magazine recently ran this piece about how unknown most of Bush's cabinet are, even compared to other unknown cabinets (A Bush Cabinet quiz). Much of it is due to the fact that, so late into a second term, only the most desperate opportunists are clamoring to join the Administration. The other, according to the article, is that so much of Bush's domestic agenda (such as it is) came from Karl Rove, not the DPC (currently headed by Karl Zinsmeister) or the departments themselves.
Education
Opinion
Spellings Spills To National Journal
There's not much that's really new or interesting in too many education stories these days, but not so in National Journal's Q and A with Secretary Spellings from Friday (Improving on '99.9% Pure' $$). In an interview with reporter Lisa Caruso (pictured), Spellings mocks multiple measures as do-it-yourself school reform, says that more money for NCLB will only come with a new iteration of the law, walks back from earlier statements about preferring current law to the Miller proposal, declines to apologize for the infamous Ivory Soap remark, and explains the origin of her Bush nickname. That's good stuff. The only thing missing from Caruso's piece is an in-depth analysis of what Spellings was wearing. (The black pantsuit? The big broach?) Find a friend who has a subscription. Related post here.
Education
Opinion
President Announces New NCLB Strategery
From the White House NCLB event going on right about now:
Education
Opinion
White House NCLB Event Later Today
I don't know who the attendees are yet, but the President and the EdSec are doing a White House event on NCLB today in the Roosevelt Room, followed by a Rose Garden statement by the Prez. Stay tuned. Could be fun. Feel free to email snarky comments or fashion tidbits if you're there. That's what BlackBerrys are for. (thisweekineducation at gmail dot com, or 312-286-9242)
Education
Opinion
George W. Bush Was "Mainstreamed," Says Conservative Columnist
Everyone hates conservative columnist Ann Coulter right now (she recently joked that perhaps women shouldn't get to vote). But she did write something a little funnier in her new book: "“President George W. Bush is evidently the first mentally retarded person to get a Harvard M.B.A., graduate from the U.S. Air Force Flight School, be elected governor of Texas and then be elected President of the United States twice. I Guess that's what they call 'mainstreaming.'” Yikes.
Education
Opinion
Will Universal Preschool Get "S-CHIPed"?
Universal preschool is going to be education campaign issue Number One, says Richard Whitmire (Preschool) based on all the proposals out there. Many would agree with him. But the recent Presidential veto of the S-CHIP shows that it might not be so easy to get something done. President Bush vetoed the S-CHIP on the grounds that it doesn't focus on the poorest kids who already have preschool and creates a major new "entitlement" program. Of course, politics play a part and Bush will not be there in the future, but the struggle shows just how difficult it is to get new programs created even when little kids are involved.
Education
Opinion
SecState Rice Visits Harlem School
"The secretary and the veteran Democratic congressman made a bit of an odd couple in the school, also known as the Harriet Tubman School, which is in his district, just steps from his local office...But to hear her explain it, the success of schools is as much a part of national security as, say, negotiations with the Iraqi government." (From Capitol to Halls of the Nation’s Future NYT)