When the Greeks left a great wooden horse outside the walls of Troy, there were those who were suspicous. When the New York Times discovered the joys of local control over education on Sunday, it gave me pause. According to the Times:
When Republican senators quietly tucked a major new student aid program
into the 774-page budget bill last month, they not only approved a
five-year, $3.75 billion initiative. They also set up what could be an
important shift in American education: for the first time the federal
government will rate the academic rigor of the nation's 18,000 high
schools.
I have to admit, my initial reaction was everything the change agents
at the Times could have wished for. My federalist knees jerked
like they had been hit with a rubber hammer, and I went on the warpath
against this federal takeover of education. But there were a
couple of things that just didn't seem right...
First, why couldn't I find the name of the bill in the Times article,
and why didn't they mention where it was in the political
process? They were reporting on something that happened "last
month" in an article dated January 22. Why is this news?
And if it is news, what can we do about it?
I found the answers in the Seattle Times. Here's how that paper reports on this bill:
Washington's congressional Democrats hope the Jack Abramoff scandal
will sour political support for a budget-bill provision that would
slash student-aid funding.
The Seattle Times isn't concerned about a $3.75 billion program
designed to shield some low-income public school kids from the harsh
effects of deficit reduction. Democrats are trying to moblilize
college students who want more money to persuade three Republicans to
jump ship:
Washington Democrats, pointing to the six-vote margin with which the
bill passed the House last time, suggested students lobby the state's
three Republican House members, all of whom supported the bill.
Back in 1993, the Washington Post famously characterized Evangelicals
as "largely poor, uneducated, and easy to command." The New York
Times almost proved that saying true on me this time around!
Deficit Reduction Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 2005
SEC. 7801:
The Act (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
`TITLE VIII--MISCELLANEOUS
`PART A--MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE SCHOLARS PROGRAM
`SEC. 811. MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE SCHOLARS PROGRAM.
`(a) Program Authorized- The Secretary is authorized to award grants to States, on a competitive basis, to enable the States to award eligible students, who complete a rigorous secondary school curriculum in mathematics and science, scholarships for undergraduate study.
I'm a bit peeved with the New York Times. (Nothing new about that!) If my main man Daryl thinks I'm making stuff up, somebody's going to pay. Looks like the Times already is, though:
But I'm still opposed. The "Deficit Reduction" bill includes $40B in new tax cuts. So, from the point of fiscal sanity, it's mostly a wash. From a federalism point of view-- Kill that Bill!
