Chris Vance on Education

Congress should not be he Great School Board on the Potomac

• Today, the federal government is forcing schools to adopt certain standards and meet federal testing requirements or face the loss of federal funding. That must stop.
• States should be absolutely free to adopt standards and systems to assess student performance, including the new Common Core Standards, if that is their choice. But that choice should not be driven by dictates and blackmail from Washington DC.
• Most federal funding comes in the form of two programs: special education (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) and Title 1 funding for kids at academic risk. The federal government should require states to demonstrate, using multiple measures, not just testing, that those funds are being spent effectively and efficiently. But that oversight should not extend beyond those federally funded programs.