One of the problems with the Department of Education is that at the nuts and bolts level of how schools are funded and how curricula are made, the United States doesn't actually have a commitment to a strong federal role in education. But because federal dollars for K-12 are targeted toward disadvantaged students -- and because no school district wants to forgo the average 9 percent of their funding that comes from the feds -- there are ways for Washington to apply pressure without radically overhauling the system. That's what No Child Left Behind did. And as the Post reports, a central challenge for the Obama administration will be correcting the failures of NCLB without conceding that there shouldn't be a strong federal role in education.
After all, pressure and coordination from Washington would ensure quicker and, probably, more effective progress on any number of crucial education issues: equalizing funding between poor and affluent school districts; developing standards for teacher quality; and encouraging states to come together to create curricula and tests that truly prepare students for college and the job market. At the higher education level, the DOE should champion a move to direct lending between government and students, cutting out the often corrupt for-profit middlemen. And the department should take a more active interest in the low college graduation rates of low-income students.
Another job for the DOE will be implementing the key higher ed promise of Obama's campaign -- a program that would provide all students with two-thirds of the cost of their college education in exchange for community service. Obama should be held accountable on this.
--Dana Goldstein
