Creepy Congressman Wants To Eliminate Digital Divide For All The Wrong Reasons
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“It’s regrettable that the Bush Administration has made the renewal of the No Child Left Behind school reform law far more difficult by its failure to fully fund and implement it. The President is right that we must continue to hold schools accountable for results. But over the past five years of working with this law, we have learned more about what works and what does not work and we should take those lessons into account. While we press forward with school reform, practical changes to the law are needed to ensure that we do not lag in our commitment to helping every parent, teacher and child succeed.”
So he wants more money, plus a new law that takes the past five years "lessons" into account, plus other "practical" changes. Sounds like he's not so excited about the Secretary's ideas, or the Miller proposal. Setting things up for a Kennedy bill, no doubt.
Continue reading "On The HotSeat: Former Committee Insider Charles Barone" »
"Disaggregation is the key to comparability," writes former Miller staffer Charlie Barone in a new analysis of NCLB then and now. "Comparability is the key to assessing equal opportunity. Equal opportunity is the key to closing achievement gaps."
If anything is certain, it's that NCLB will get a new name when it's reauthorized points out this Washington Post article. It's been that way in the past, and will all but certainly happen again due to the law and President Bush's current unpopularity (Education Law Could Leave Behind Its Name). Check out some of the names that are being proposed -- it's easier to make fun the current name than make up a catchy new one.
Having successfully fixed our nation's campaign finance system, Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) is rolling up his sleeves to help fix NCLB. Thanks, Russ. I'm sure the committee staff appreciate your jumping in like this. Not that I was ever particularly nice to committee staff myself. Yes, of course, they should have taken your language into their bill. Every Senator's prerogative, etc.
If you're not already sick of the NEA-Miller story, there's a new Klein-Hoff EdWeek piece up online today that fleshes out some of the events of the past week. Included are not only the whole he-said, she-said about the TEACH Act language that you probably already know, but also some interesting tidbits like how the NEA made sure to have folks from each of the House ed committee members' districts at the Monday hearing, the toe-the-NEA-line responses of some Dem House members about the issue.
That leaves two questions: Why did Miller include the merit stuff in the first place, and what's going on between the NEA and CTA? I don't know if Miller had to include the merit pay stuff to have any chance of McKeon's support, or for other reasons. But fighting the merit pay thing and revamping the AYP system at the same time (and comparability) continues to seem to me to be biting off more than necessary. Or I'm missing something -- Miller puts in the merit pay stuff just to give something for the NEA folks to focus on, hoping to preserve the standards and accountability provisions. Let me know if you've got it figured out.
UPDATE: From Mike Antonucci: "EIA has the exclusive tip that "Sammy the Bull" Gravano will be called in as a surprise witness. Gravano will reveal that "multiple measures" and "growth models" are mobspeak for racketeering of Title I funds."
Continue reading "What To Make Of This Tentative Witness List" »
More interested in what happens next on the teacher quality front? Check out the latest discussion draft from the Miller camp, which includes Title II and all the rest:
I can't wait to hear what you think.
UPDATE: That didn't take long. EdWeek summarizes here ("The draft proposal also would keep intact most of the current NCLB law’s reporting requirements on whether teachers are “highly qualified” and add new requirements that states identify the districts and schools most in need of highly qualified teachers."). The Ed Trust crows below ("The provisions of the Title II discussion draft released yesterday by the Education and Labor Committee are a critical step forward for teaching and learning in classrooms throughout the country, especially the classrooms of low-income and minority students.")
During an early afternoon press conference call, EdSec Spellings reiterated her concerns about the M&M (Miller and McKeon) discussion draft and said she was sending them comments in the hopes that they were still open-minded. She called the current NCLB and its 2014 goals "righteous, proper, and do-able." Some of the differences between the two positions seem relatively minor -- what form differentiated interventions should take, for example. Others -- multiple measures and other changes to AYP seem more problematic to Spellings.
Right on schedule, CQ Today has a piece about how the Dems are focused on helping the freshmen keep their seats (Democrats Put Freshmen in Spotlight). Doing so makes obvious sense for the Dems, but not so much for NCLB supporters given the newbies' understandably skeptical views of NCLB. It's not entirely wishful thinking to say (as some do) that the freshmen ran against Iraq and -- to a much lesser degree -- NCLB.
Continue reading "(You Are) Live-Blogging The Big Miller Speech Today" »
Think the Dems are allocating education and social services money any better, or differently, than those big bad Republicans did? Think again.
*Free Daily E-Mail Updates Now Available -- See The Yellow Box To The Right.*
Thanks a ton to a brave reader for sending in the Miller memo to House freshmen from earlier this month, which outlines where things are (or were) on the House majority side at least. As you can see, the two-page memo (PDF) dated July 7 outlines nine key proposals and asks for feedback. The proposals range from the obvious ("Allow states to use growth models that recognize progress over time," improve test quality, prioritize schools with the most problems) to the highly controversial ("Allow states to use more than test scores to measure student learning and school performance") to the ho-hum ("Address the high school dropout crisis and take comprehensive steps to turn around low-performing high schools," increase funding, etc.). This explains some of the recent weeks' twists and turns, including the new left-right coalition to save NCLB and -- most obviously -- the Friday the 13th letter to Chairman Miller from concerned parties.
Free Daily E-Mail Updates Now Available -- Sign Up In The Yellow Box To The Right.
The last time the Senate reauthorized the HEA was a long time ago. I was still working for Jeff Bingaman and we thought that we could really, finally, get ed schools to do a better job on teacher prep. But now the Senate has passed its version of the bill -- no House companion to go along with it, and congrats to everyone there for getting that done.
The implications for NCLB as I read them are bad, however. With two weeks left before August recess and a big education bill in hand, no one on the Senate side at least is going to feel any great rush. And we still don't have any bill language (do we?) from Kennedy or Miller to look at, though I know it's out there and you can send it to me anonymously at thisweekineducation at gmail dot com. Last but not least, there's the exhaustion factor. Many of the same folks work K12 as well as higher ed.
AFT John reminds us to read Congressional Quarterly a little more often, especially when it includes tidbits about the increasing unlikelihood of a summer bill introduction and markup for NCLB (Slouching towards 2009). Not enough July left, and not enough of a majority for either party to push something through.
Appropriations: On Wednesday, July 11, the House Appropriations Committee completed mark-up on a $607 billion Labor-HHS-Education spending bill that will set funding levels for education, health and labor programs for FY 2008. The bill allocates $62.6 billion for the Education Department, an increase of $2.3 billion over current funding. Overall, the total bill is roughly $7 billion more than that approved for FY 2007. Go to: http://appropriations.house.gov. The measure next moves to the House floor for consideration. The Senate has yet to move on its version of the bill.
New Reports: Today, the Center on Education Policy released a report examining the kind of assistance that schools identified for improvement under NCLB receive and how effective district and state officials believe that assistance to be. Moving Beyond Identification: Assisting Schools in Improvement is posted on the Center's home page (www.cep-dc.org) under "What's New."
As I first pointed out two weeks ago, the Kennedy report on Reading First was not a "Congressional study" in the sense of something like CRS or the GAO would do, despite being described as such in the press. It was internal, and partisan from the start. The good folks at the Title I Monitor have dug into this further, exposing some of the report's problems. RL Colvin over at Early Stories thinks that's a good thing. I agree.
Looking for some dry but informative weekend reading? Check out these CRS reports from Open CRS: School and Campus Safety Programs, Head Start Reauthorization: A Side-by-Side Comparison, The ESEA, as Amended by the No Child Left Behind Act: A Primer, and High School Graduation, Completion, and Dropouts: Federal Policy, Programs, and Issues. From Open CRS.
The Times (Spellings Rejects Criticism on Student Loan Scandal) and Post (Education Secretary Defends Loans Record) both take it pretty easy on Spellings, whose performance was to my view neither particularly effective or especially believable.
I think that this is in part due to the ongoing tendency in the press to take it easy on her and also because it was mostly Miller and other Dems, not Republicans, who challenged her. This is in a stark contrast to the treatment that, say, Alberto Gonzalez is getting during his Hill appearances, where it is Republicans who are ridiculing Gonzalez as much as anyone else.
You can watch a video of the testimony from yesterday here.
UPDATE: EdWeek notes Spellings' uncertainty and refusals to take strong action on the Reading First front here.
How much longer will the Congressional Republicans defend her, and when will the press get out from under the Spellings spell?
Wearing a somber black top and pearls, EdSec Spellings endured repeated interruptions, refutations, and harrumphs from a worked-up Chairman Miller in the first leg of this morning's oversight hearing (now on break, video here).
Essentially, Spellings is claiming that the student lending program is complex and not entirely under her jurisdiction, and that taking lenders to court would have been difficult. For show or for real, Miller is lambasting the USDE for not having told the lenders to stop, and pointing out that many lenders did so without going to court.
"Nobody at the Department of education showed up at the front door and said you can’t do this," said Miller, who called Spellings' arguments a crutch, not plausible, and unacceptable. And we haven't even really gotten to Reading First yet.
I love all the infighting and maneuvering that's going on behind the scenes leading up to Thursday's student lending and Reading First hearing. It's so very familiar and delicious. On Tuesday, the USDE announced that its top student loan officer had resigned -- giving Spellings the chance to tell Miller that appropriate action has already been taken on that front. (Nearly everyone associated with Reading First is already gone.) Then she gave some sort of a friendly pre-interview to Andy Rotherham on Wednesday, where she apparently repeats much of her defense from EWA last week -- some of it word for word. On Wednesday, Kennedy's office released its own Reading First report (EdWeek, AP), reminding everyone that it's not just Miller who's on the case -- and perhaps pressuring Miller not to ease up on the gas pedal.
UPDATE: Some more stories:
Four Officials Profited From Publishers, Report Finds Washington Post
House Passes Ban on Gifts From Student Lenders NYT
Federal Student Loan Official Is Resigning NYT
House Votes to End Test Central to GOP's Shift on Head Start Wash Post
The House dealt a blow to President Bush's chief early-childhood initiative yesterday, voting to end the standardized testing of 4-year-olds, which was at the heart of his efforts to refocus Head Start.
Head Start may reach out to more kids Booth Newspapers
As early as today, the U.S. House is expected to approve legislation that would renew the program for another five years and require the 2,700-plus U.S. Head Start programs to open their doors to more children, extend the number of classroom hours and improve teacher quality.
Click below for a roundup of amendments by Fritz.
Congressman George Miller is peeved, it seems (or he's jealous of all the fun the folks on the Judiciary Committee are having)> He's asked not just the USDE but also the White House for all communications regarding student lending and Reading First, and submitted a list of folks whose emails and letters he wants to see. See below for the Miller press release, or click here.
He specifically asks for communications to and from former Education Secretary Rodney Roderick Paige; former Senior Advisor to Secretary Paige, Beth Ann Bryan; former Deputy Secretary William Hansen; former Under Secretary and Deputy Secretary Eugene Hickok; and present Chief of Staff David Dunn.
UPDATE: An eagle-eyed reader points out that it's Roderick, not "Rodney" Paige. That's what I get for cutting and pasting from Miller's press release (see below).
Continue reading "Chairman Miller Is Peeved -- Requests Correspondence From USDE & White House" »
Don't be put off by the boring title that the Title Monitor gives to its Reading First story (OIG Refers Reading First To U.S. Justice Department). There's interesting stuff in there about witnesses like former assistant secretary Susan Neuman who might have been expected to have been called to testify and some impassioned remarks from Mike Petrilli questioning the Committee's treatment of former RF director Chris Doherty and insulation of EdSec Spellings from the fiasco.
Speaking of the hearing, you can watch the live webcast (video, audio plays on your screen) here. Good background listening.
Getting antsy? You can read Reid Lyon's explanation of his role and what Reading First was supposed to do here. No apologies there, that's for sure. Why isn't he at the hearing?
Speaking of who is and isn't at the hearing -- where's Spellings? If Gonzalez can come up and explain himself, why can't she?
Reading First Paying Off, Education Dept. Says Washington Post
"That's the irony," said John F. Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy. "The program was poorly -- even unethically -- administered at the federal level, yet it seems to be having a positive effect in schools."
Hooked On Hysterics National Review Online (Petrilli)
If you enjoy political theater of the absurd, tune in to a House Education and Labor committee hearing Friday on “Mismanagement and Conflicts of Interest in the Reading First Program.”
I came to the Hill having been a teacher, an ed school student, and a researcher -- not from the campaign or the political side. And I came to the job actually wanting to do education. But every year I was there, I found that I was more effective the more I thought like floor staff or a press secretary. Going fast and low like that was extremely uncomfortable, but it worked, by and large. I stopped reading the reports and started bugging my LD for gossip and news about upcoming floor schedules. And I got things done, for better or worse.
Sure, education research has gotten a lot better since then, and there were (and are) lots of education staffers much much better than I was. But being reflective and opportunistic at the same time is not easy, especially given daily demands of floor statements, press releases, constituent meetings, trip and hearing prep. And it's the rare member who actually knows much more than a few things about the issues to say in front of the cameras. For better or worse, five years of talk about research-based learning don't seem to have made much of a dent on that basic dynamic, nor are they likely to change the basic shape of NCLB 2.
Wednesday's House hearing on SES won't be the big hearing of the week, but it will likely be pretty interesting given Senator Clinton's recent comments about the ineffectiveness of the program and its controversial use of private tutoring companies.
Tutoring generally works. SES tutoring isn't that different from regular tutoring. Expecting big effects from small amounts of tutoring doesn't make sense. "Big education" isn't dominating the SES field. More on this later.
Some recommendations for additional or alternative witnesses at next week's RF hearing include Reid Lyon, Margaret Spellings and Susan Neuman, as well as state officials who were pressured by the Department, and providers like Success for All, Cupp Publishers, and Reading Recovery who were left out, according to edbizbuzz (here).
On Monday, Chairman Miller announced the lineup for the April 20th Reading First witch hunt hearing, including one witness (Deborah Simmons, pictured) who will appear under subpoena.
There are at least two things that seem worth noting about the news that some college presidents are considering a rebellion of sorts against US News' college rankings (Is There Life After Rankings?). First off, the rebel presidents don't have all that much influence, given that so much information is already publicly available. Not participating in the survey is the most they can really do. More importantly, however, the presidents are signaling to each other and to others their opposition to measurements and comparisons that were proposed in the Spellings Commission report. This is just as much about reauthorizing the Higher Ed Act as it is about the US News rankings.
The Reading First story isn't alive, really, but it won't die, either. Just like a zombie. That's in large part because while the news about the politics and implementation of the program continue to be unsettling, states and districts (many of them at least) report that they have benefited from the program. Over the weekend, news spread that Congress would continue looking into Reading First, including an April 20 hearing.
Nobody who knows anything seems to think that voucher and charterization proposals like the ones in the Administration's NCLB 2 proposals stand a chance in Congress, but I continue not to be convinced. Specialized voucher proposals (for a geographic area, or a particular kind of student) are particularly hard to argue against, especially once you've already voted for them (as many in Congress have for Katrina and DC), and are in fact spreading at the state level (Vouchers Eyed for Students With Disabilities EdWeek).
It's nothing that a few good voucher abuse and ineffectiveness stories wouldn't erase. My current favorite is the one from Ohio about private school parents enrolling their kids in public schools for the last couple of days of the year in order to qualify for Ohio's voucher program.
No sooner do I say there's nothing going on than I read the FritzWire from yesterday, in which Fritz lists a bunch of hearings on the Hill and brings up the possibility of a faster, rather than slower, reauthorization:
"Things are heating up with hearings on No Child Left Behind. Is this a signal that the statute is on the fast track to get reauthorized rather than dragging it out for 2 or more years?"
He lists hearings today, tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday. Hearings are one thing, action is another. But it's an impressive list of events he's compiled. To get on the list, email Fritz at fritz@publicprivateaction.com.
Below are some more responses to the NCLB hearing, both first-hand (delicious!) and via the papers (more ideological).
Who cares what anyone else has to say, though -- we want to know what jumped out at you, or seemed interesting or strange or funny about who spoke, what they said, how the members responded, or who was in the audience?
This whole Internet thing is getting better and better for those of us who want to know what's going on without going to DC or sitting in a hot hearing room. Check out this CPSAN video from yesterday's House Labor-HHS-Education spending hearing, featuring Obey and Spellings, and let me know if they said anything interesting. Maybe they'll do the same thing on the Senate side, too.
It's all about events this week, I guess. Now the House has a Labor-HHS-Education appropriations hearing scheduled for Wednesday, and -- wowza -- they're having Bob Slavin (ie, the wronged party under Reading First) testify. Should be fun.
"The Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee will hold a hearing on "Federal Funding for the No Child Left Behind Act." Witnesses: Margaret Spellings; secretary of Education; Jack Jennings, president and CEO, Center on Education Policy; Paul Vallas, CEO, the School District of Philadelphia, PA; Jane Babcock, superintendent, Keokuk Community School District, Keokuk, IA; Gene Wilhoit, executive director, Council of Chief State School Officers; and Robert Slavin, director, Center for Research and Reform in Education at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD. Time and Location: 2:30 p.m.; 124 Dirksen SOB. Contact: 202.224.7363." From USDE via AACTE.
Uh oh. That's what it sounds like from this letter (PDF) from the big four on the House side. It's basically a call for input from stakeholders. Didn't we do that already? Or doesn't the whole Spellings Commission thing count? If not, I guess I can chuck my Aspen Institute report, too.
I'm the last to hear these things, but there's apparently a Senate HELP committee hearing today (Wednesday) with none other than Bill Gates as a star witness.
"Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates will testify before the U.S. Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor & Pensions) Committee on U.S. competitiveness. The testimony can be viewed live via webcast beginning at 9:30 a.m. EST. There's supposed to be a webcast here but I can't vouch for it. Here's the official site.
Meanwhile, the teacher recruitment hearing took place on Tuesday, and featured all sorts of interesting witnesses like Bill Sanders, Jesse Solomon from the Boston Teacher Residency Program, and Linda Darling Hammond. There's one strange choice in there that doesn't seem to fit, but I'll let you guess who that is. Click here for the full list of witnesses, copies of their testimony, and audio/video.
The latest Federal Update from Brustein & Manasevit is out, and includes a few key details you may not have seen elsewhere. For example, Head Start is apparently on the move after its long reauthorization delay. The Senate committee has already passed a bill (s556) that omits provisions that were objectionable, such as giving faith based providers to hire staff based on religious preferences and allowing states to run HS programs.
All this back and forth with The Quick & The Ed's Sara Mead got me wondering well, what difference would a Constitutional amendment on education make, anyway? Would it be merely symbolic, as so many things are, or would it have any real impact?
The answer, I'm learning, is that if enacted it would have an enormous effect. And, regardless, it challenges the ed policy world to consider big ideas along with little ones. Click below to read more.
Continue reading "Would A Constitutional Amendment Do Any Good?" »
Here's a light profile from the Wall Street Journal of one of the lobbyists who works on education issues on the Hill for clients including Edison Schools, Heather Podesta (New Congress, New Lobbyists). We met at the start of the year. If I recall correctly, she shares a birthday with NCLB. Married to Tony Podesta, flamboyant brother of former Clinton Chief of Staff and current Center On American Progress head John Podesta. They throw good Oscars parties, or used to. Maybe it's not too late to make friends and get yourself an invitation.
As predicted here several months ago, Aspen Institute NCLB Commission head Alex Nock is leaving his post after having successfully delivering the report yesterday and is heading back to the Hill.
Formerly the education guy for the House education committee, he's now going to be the deputy chief of staff overseeing education, labor, and other issues for Chairman Miller. Tommy Thompson announced it yesterday after the report was rolled out. Denise and Alice are still in place.
Congrats and condolences.
I've been feeling down about the lack of big ideas out there on education -- even bad ones -- but my little Valentine's Day gift from Cong. Jesse Jackson Jr (D-IL) comes in the form of a bill proposing an amendment to the Constitution (yes, that one) that would make access to a quality education a federal, not state by state, right (Library of Congress).
Here's the text -- short and sweet (based on last year's version): "All citizens of the United States shall enjoy the right to a public education of equal high quality. The Congress shall have power to implement this article by appropriate legislation."
Potential impact? Immense. Chances of passage? Slim to none. Mind-expanding ability? Powerful stuff.
Long ago and far away, I helped NM Senator Jeff Bingaman get the federal AP incentive fund funded -- the first national effort at subsidizing the costs of AP exams for low-income kids. But things have changed a lot since then, and it's interesting to compare everyone's coverage of the annual Advanced Placement report. Everyone covers it differently, as you'll see.
UPDATE:
Looking at the witness list for Thursday's HELP committee hearing, there aren't a lot of mysteries.
In particular, Chicago's Hosanna Mahaley Johnson, head of the new schools office (and oft-rumored successor to Arne Duncan), is almost certain to support the USDE proposal to bypass state charter caps and allow more conversions.
Under Renaissance 2010, the district's current school turnaround effort, a slew of schools have been closed and opened -- probably more accountability-based closures than anywhere else in the nation -- but the charter cap for the city is stuck at 30 so they can close all they want but can't open charters, which a lot of folks seem to prefer.
Interesting, too, that Mayor Daley sends Mahaley Johnson, not Duncan, and that he has apparently called a halt on school closings this year until after the primary this month. Check District 299 for all the latest on Chicago schools.
Don't pay good money for CRS reports -- they're public documents, sort of. And as you may recall from previous posts, many of them you can find online at Open CRS. Today's example: The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA): Overview and Selected Issues.
This morning, NPR points out what a big difference it makes to the budget process to have a Congressional majority that's not the same party as the occupant of the White House. In the past, the Republican majority would actually receive and make use of the President's budget, perhaps even have helped develop it. This year, the Democratic response is just as negative, and much more empowered. Of course, that leaves the Democrats with the task of coming up with their own budget ideas.
More budget reactions since yesterday:
States feel the pinch of tight federal budget Stateline.org
States would be spared draconian cuts next year under President Bush’s plan to balance the federal budget by 2012, but health, social and other programs important to states still would be squeezed.
The Bush Budget, 2008 Inside Higher Ed
Administration's spending blueprint would increase Pell Grants -- by cutting lender profits and other aid programs.
Thanks to a kind reader, here are the proposed FY08 education budget levels, plus a handy-dandy review by the Labor-HHS Subcommittee staff.
PS: I think this last document isn't up anywhere else. (At least that's what folks are telling me.) If you use it, please link back here rather than snagging the contents and running. Your readers won't mind the extra click.
A lot of folks have been banking on the $99 million TIF fund to kick-start their pay for performance plans and help spread the idea, but, according to this Title I Monitor report from two days ago, it's all but eliminated in the new spending agreement: Democrats Unveil Joint-Funding Resolution for SY 2007-08. "The program, funded for the first time this school year, provides financial incentives for teachers and principals who successfully boost student achievement." Unless this got changed yesterday and I just missed it.
UPDATE: Meanwhile, Houston's pay for performance plan is creating controversy, according to EdWeek: Houston in Uproar Over Teachers' Bonuses
"The bill includes increases for students with disabilities, underprivileged schools, and early childhood education," according to this eSchool News article (Congress saves E2T2, hikes '07 funding). "But the majority of education initiatives--including the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT or "E2T2") block-grant program, the primary source of federal funding for school technology--would be "level-funded" under the deal, meaning they would get the same funding as in 2006."
Take a look here if you want to see the full Senate HELP subcommittee lineup, but the top spots are nothing unexpected: Dodd, Mikulski, and Patty Murray head the three subs, with Alexander, Burr, and Isakson as ranking members. Obama and Clinton are both on the K12 and employment subcommittees, and not on aging.
Unlike in most years, when Congress has already passed its spending bills by now, this year we’ll have the start of the new budget planning process begin while the old budget is still in process.
As pointed out in David DeSchryver’s Federal Update, the House is set to try and finish the FY07 spending bill next week – the same week the President’s FY08 budget request comes out. Most programs are going to get no funding increase, though as usual some folks will try and get one until the bitter end.
For example, Rep. Castle in the House is trying to get education, health, and related programs bumped up in the FY07 process. He’s sending a letter with some other moderate Rs, just as they did on earlier versions of the spending legislation. They’re asking for 2 percent above FY06
Meanwhile, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and the New America Foundation are holding a FY08 budget preview event on Thursday at New America that will discuss some of what may be coming down the line.If you still don't have a copy of the budget by then, you might stop by.
Previous Posts
Good News For Ed Funding and Earmarks
$1B In K12 Earmarks Further Imperiled
Over the AFTBlog they're chomping at the bit about the possibility that the "other" Representative Miller -- Brad, from NC -- might subpoena folks in the USDE as part of his newly-formed science oversight subcommittee (A Congressman Drops the S-Bomb). Don't forget that the "real" Congressman Miller (George, CA) hired a chief investigator to do much the same thing last month -- at the full committee level (Miller Ramps Up For Oversight & Investigations).
Click below to check out the full list of House education subcommittee members, as announced by Chairman Miller's office earlier today - along with some snazzy new names.
**Ed Reform gets a new long name and Kildee as head.
**21st Century Competitiveness gets a new long name and Hinojosa as head.
**Select Education turns into "Healthy Families & Communities" and McCarthy heads it.
Where's Woolsey? She's heading a labor panel.
Continue reading "Dems Lengthen Subcommittee Names (& Name New Heads)" »
"The human mind isn’t very well equipped to make sense of a figure like $1.2 trillion. We don’t deal with a trillion of anything in our daily lives, and so when we come across such a big number, it is hard to distinguish it from any other big number," begins this NYT article on how much the Iraq war has cost -- and what that money could have been used for instead (What $1.2 Trillion Can Buy - New York Times). It actually takes a fair amount of work to spend that much, even including high-cost items like universal preschool.
According to a recent Q and A with Ellin Nolan, president of education lobbying firm Washington Partners, the newly-passed rules on earmarks, gifts, and ethics will have a mixed but relatively benign effect on the education environment. "Most Members take pride in helping constituents get special consideration for federal funding," she says. "They are very willing to stand up and take credit for directing resources to their states or districts. " If anything, budget pressures not sunshine laws will have a dampening effect, she says. And the gift ban is not much of an issue for education groups and nonprofits. As for FY2008 (the upcoming budget year), Nolan is optimistic that incoming Labor-HHS chairman Harkin may be able to free up more resources for education than in the past.
Prior to January 4, 2007 and the beginning of the 110th Congress, there was only one reason to go to the House Education and Workforce Committee Website - for the schedule of committee hearings. Now, the site has been completely re-vamped. The committee has been renamed the Education and Labor committee (no more "workforce"). The new site has a front-and-center section with the committee's priorities. No Child Left Behind has it's own webpage, with additional pages regarding how the Bush administration has "shortchanged" NCLB and the Reading First scandal.
The site also has a comphrensive list of committee staff and their portfolios. Please send tips, gossip, and sightings for Alice Johnson Cain, Amy Elverum, Denise Forte, Ruth Friedman, Lauren Gibbs, Gabriella Gomez, Lloyd Horwich, Lamont Ivey, Ann-Frances Lambert, Ricardo Martinez, Lisette Partelow, Julie Radocchia, and Theda Zawaiza to thisweekineducation@gmail.com.
I'm not sure that NCLB is at the top of conservatives' list of concerns right now, but it's interesting to see (in the Washington Times via the NH Insider) that concerns about the law from the right are just about the same as concerns about the law from the left.
"Some conservatives on Capitol Hill are worried that President Bush will cut a deal with Democrats that would not only renew his education law, but also dramatically expand it, including perhaps more requirements for the high school level."
