Campaign K-12

There are a lot of freshmen on the House Education and Labor Committee, but only one shows up on The Fix's latest list of most competitive House races: Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H.

The No Child Left Behind Act was one of Shea-Porter's favorite targets back in 2006, when she unseated Rep. Jeb Bradley, a Republican. (He wasn't in Congress in 2001, when the law was passed). Shea-Porter equated the law with President Bush and pledged to work to scrap it. She called it an attempt by "right-wing Republicans" to “undermine our confidence in our public schools" to create a federal private school voucher system.

Bradley is back for a rematch this year. And it will be interesting to see whether Shea-Porter tones down her rhetoric on the school improvement law, now that she's spent some time with NCLB co-author Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House education panel. (He even visited her district earlier this year to answer educators' questions about the law).

Shea-Porter's campaign Web site is in the "coming soon" stages, but the "issues" section on her congressional site offers some pretty bland "views" on education:

Investment in education is an investment in the future of American families and the middle class. A good education leads to good jobs and allows people to provide well for their families. Without a strong, accessible, affordable educational system, the middle class cannot stay strong and help our economy grow

Definitely a departure from her earlier statements. I'm wondering if that trend will continue. And if Shea-Porter is less stridently anti-NCLB this time around, will that help her or hurt her?

Posted by Alyson Klein at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Rep. Timothy J. Walz, D-Minn., a freshman and former teacher who won his seat in an upset victory in 2006, is co-sponsoring a bill that would suspend the accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, according to my colleague, David Hoff, over at NCLB Act II.

If that sounds like a bold move for someone facing a potentially tough re-election battle ... it actually, well, isn't. At least two of the three Republicans vying to take on Walz in the general election have said they would scrap the NCLB law, according to this news report. Still, it's telling that, at least in this contested congressional district in a swing state, the candidates seem to have a similar take on the NCLB law. Namely, that it's not working.

I'm not sure yet if that sentiment is unique to Minnesota--nearly every member of the state's congressional delegation opposed the law even back in 2001--or if it's a trend that will play out in tough races nationwide. I'll be watching this as House races heat up, but let me know what you think in the comments section below.

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While the next president will play a key role in figuring out the future of the No Child Left Behind Act, the membership (and leadership) of the two education committees in Congress - the House Education and Labor Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee - is also going to be very important to reauthorization. And it looks like there's going to be some interesting match-ups this year for voters concerned about education.

In the House, just on the Democratic side, 28 members were elected to Congress this year by a margin of less than 55 percent, according to Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball. And five of them are on the House Education and Labor Committee: Rep. Joe Courtney of Connecticut, Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky, Rep. Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire, Rep. Dave Loebsack of Iowa and Rep. Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania.

Also, teacher-turned-congressman Rep. Tim Walz of Minnesota just barely won his race. (Rumor has it Walz sought a seat on the education committee this year, but didn't get it. He might have better luck in 2009).

Judging from my observations at the many, many, marathon committee hearings on NCLB this year, these five vulnerable panel members are fairly engaged on the school improvement law. And it appears that their presence (and that of other freshman) on the committee has already had an impact. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, proposed new flexibilities in a draft NCLB bill released in August, including a local-assessment pilot project championed by Yarmuth.

But it remains to be seen whether that dynamic will continue and what kind of support these folks get from Democratic-leaning education voters in their districts (i.e. unions and folks more along the lines of Democrats for Education Reform).

Over the next couple of months, we'll be monitoring these races and will let you know how NCLB is playing out in these districts, who these Democrats are getting support from, and what (if anything) their opponents have to say about the law.

And we'll look at Who's Vulnerable over on the Republican side of the aisle and in the Senate.

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It's already starting! Al Franken, who is challenging Sen. Norm Coleman, a Republican, for his Senate seat in the swing state of Minnesota, showed up on David Letterman on Tuesday night ... and bashed No Child Left Behind! On late night TV! Shockingly, Letterman wasn't nearly as excited as I was .... he seemed only slightly more amused than Jon Stewart did when Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings brought up "growth models" during her appearance on the Daily Show last year.

Franken was much wonkier (and not nearly as entertaining) as a senate candidate than as a comedian. I think he's trying to show his serious side. Still, it does look like education is going to be a central part of his campaign - and, hopefully, Coleman's. Franken's even got an ad featuring his fourth-grade teacher, which he played during the show.

We've already written about the differences between Franken and Coleman on the NCLB law. Franken brought up many concerns folks on the left (and some on the right) have already voiced about NCLB, namely that it narrows curriculum and forces to teachers to "teach to the test." Even though such criticisms are nothing new for those of us who closely follow federal education policy, it's good to see these issues talked about outside of a congressional hearing room or National School Boards Association conference - particularly since there's been so little discussion of them in the presidential campaign.

It's probably too much to hope that Coleman will show up Leno next week, talking about voluntary national standards and tests...right?

UPDATE: You can watch most of Franken's appearence on Youtube here, but unfortunately, the clip doesn't include the full segment with his NCLB remarks. We're still searching for a full video clip.

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Hoping to hear a lively - and maybe even substantive - debate between two federal candidates over the future of the No Child Left Behind Act? You might be in luck ... if you live in Minnesota. Mike Ciresi, a laywer who was vying with the comedian Al Franken, at right, for a chance to take on Sen. Norm Coleman, a Republican, dropped out of the Democratic primary race this week, putting Franken in a strong position to win his party's nomination. That means we might start hearing a real discussion on NCLB in the general election campaign because it seems that Franken and Coleman could not be further apart on the issue.

Coleman has demonstrated his support for a strong federal accountablity system that keeps the law's major tenets intact. He was one of three sponsors of a bill that would largely implement the recommendations of the Aspen Institute's Commission on the Future of NCLB. Sen. Coleman's bill would permit some new flexiblity in the law (mostly broadly supported ideas such as growth models). But it also would call on the National Assesment Governing Board to develop a (voluntary) system of national standards and tests.

And it would call for states to set up longitudinal-data systems that tracked individual student progress, and link that performance to teachers and programs. States would be required to develop a definition of highly effective teachers that relies chiefly on student achievement.

Franken, on the other hand, says on his campaign Web site that the law needs to be "dramatically reformed or scrapped altogether." He says he'd like to see states be allowed to use student portfolios to measure progress, among other signficant changes.

The federal law is likely to be an issue in the Senate race. Minnesota's congressional delegation opposed NCLB even back in 2001, when the law had broad, bipartisan support in Congress. Nearly every member of the Minnesota congressional delegation voted against final passage NCLB. (The lone expection was Rep. Bill Luther, a Democrat, who is recorded as Not Voting).

The Senate race is going to be closely watched nationwide, in part because Minnesota is a swing state and Coleman is considered a vulnerable incumbent... and in part because, well, Franken is a former Saturday Night Live cast member and writer, and radio talk show host on the liberal Air America network. Who doesn't want to see what Stuart Smalley is like on the stump?

Here's hoping all that attention helps fuel a national debate on NCLB ...

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Here’s some inside baseball on those retirements of congressional Republicans I wrote about earlier this week: Their departures may have an impact on the bottom-line for some education programs. A number of the retiring Republicans have helped control the purse strings for education as members of the House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing education spending. In fact, four out of the six regular GOP members of the panel are retiring.

The retiring members are:

Rep. James T. Walsh of New York, the ranking member on the subcommittee overseeing education funding. He's been a supporter of funding for special education , offering an amendment to boost funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act last year when the full Appropriations Committee considered the education spending bill. And he voted to override President Bush's veto of the fiscal 2008 education appropriations measure, and called attention to it in a speech on the floor of the House.

Rep. Ralph Regula of Ohio, who served as chairman of the subcommittee from 2000 to 2006. He’s supported alternative pay plans for teachers.

Rep. John E. Peterson of Pennyslvannia, another member of the subcommittee. He recently voiced his support for vocational education, a program President Bush is again seeking to cut. And he defended earmarks in a recent Education Week story.

Rep. Dave Weldon of Florida, who supports a bill sponsored by Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., that would allow states to “opt” out of No Child Left Behind’s accountability provisions.

The departures mean there will be a lot of new faces on the Republican side of the aisle in the House subcommittee overseeing education spending starting in 2009. The Democrats are likely to retain control of Congress and, therefore, the subcommittee, so their priorities will likely prevail.

But the new Republican members' views on No Child Left Behind, alternative pay for teachers, and other programs will help influence how much money those programs get. As the Minority Leader, Rep. John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, a key architect of the No Child Left Behind Act, will have a major say in who gets those coveted open slots – and he’s a fan of school choice, performance pay, and accountability.

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Will the Democrats, who recaptured the House of Representatives in 2006, be able to hold on to their majority? Political analysts are betting they will - in part because the Republicans will have to defend 25 "open" seats previously held by GOP members.

Two of those members are running for Senate, including Rep. Heather Wilson of New Mexico. Edweek's Erik Robelen profiled her 2004 congressional race. She defended the No Child Left Behind Act, which her opponent attacked.

But most of the open GOP seats are the result of retirements.

Who's retiring and what might those departures mean for education? Here's a quick first look:

Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia - Helped champion the District of Columbia's voucher program in the House.

Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado - A forrmer 2008 presidential candidate, on a strong immigration enforcement platform, he refused to participate in a Univision debate because his remarks would be translated into Spanish. You can read more about it in my colleague, Mary Ann Zehr's blog, "Learning the Language." Tancredo was also a regional representative for the U.S. Department of Education from 1981 to 1993.

Rep. Tancredo, Reps. Rick Renzi of Arizona, John Doolittle of California, Duncan Hunter of California, Dave Weldon of Florida, and Wayne Gilchrest of Maryland, who lost his primary bid, are all supporters of a bill sponsored by Rep. Pete Hoeskstra, R-Mich., that would allow states to "opt-out" of the No Child Left Behind Act's accountability requirements. The measure has 65 co-sponors. It will be interesting to see whether these lawmakers' successors follow their lead in supporting that legislation.

Just six seats previously held by Democrats will be "open" in Nov. 2008.

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