Congress


Any education bills that originate in the house pass through the House’s committee on education and labor. Here, all of the bills are argued and assessed for their relevance and possibility of success if passed into law. As for the Senate, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions takes the lead on any bill regarding education. The ranking senator in the education committee is Michael B. Enzi and Edward M. Kennedy is the chairman on the committee. Education is a very broad issue and is divided into many subcommittees. Because of the recent attention to No Child Left Behind, there is even a committee that focuses on improving the bill and how it deals with schools. There are many subcommittees on special services education along with some that deal with education for adults. But, as high school seniors, it is important to notice the attention given to providing financial aid for college students.

This link has some interesting data regarding the success of NCLB across the nation.

http://www.ed.gov/nclb/accountability/results/progress/nation.html

One of the leading groups behind education is ED. A little background knowledge for those unfamiliar:
“ED was created in 1980 by combining offices from several federal agencies. ED's mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access. ED's 4,200 employees and $68.6 billion budget are dedicated to:
• Establishing policies on federal financial aid for education, and distributing as well as monitoring those funds.• Collecting data on America's schools and disseminating research.• Focusing national attention on key educational issues.• Prohibiting discrimination and ensuring equal access to education.”

The ED website provides a lot of information for teachers and admisistrators as to ways to run their classrooms and schools, as well as providing aid for students in getting financial aid and assisting them with homework.

Another link that interested me was a break down of the NCLB bill into an index. Very few people truly know what the bill stated and this breakdown makes it easy to look into individual sections.

http://www.ed.gov/%20nclb/index/az/index.htm

Political Parties

What are the party platforms regarding education?

The platforms of the Democratic National Party and the Republican National Party differ mainly on the issue of public schools. The Republican Party has little faith in the performance of the public school system and therefore supports vouchers for private schools and charter schools instead of public school. The Democratic Party believes in the public school system and believes that low cost schooling should be available to everyone who qualifies. Also the DNP believes that more state funding should go to schools and a college tuition tax deduction should be instituted.

What divides either party on education?

The main division between the two main parties is the public school system. But there is little division within parties as far as education goes. Some Republicans do not like the voucher system and some Democrats do not support added state funding to schools. These separations are based on individual beliefs and the circumstances of the individual’s state budget respectively along with other variables.

Are there any 3rd parties that have a significant impact on education policy?

Third parties do not have a very significant impact on education reform but one of the more interesting proposals from a third party was one from Libertarian Daniel Imperato. He proposed an initiative to develop a US online education system. We will see if that proposal has any impact on the education system.