Cutting food stamps for Race to the Top?
Here’s how serious the Obama administration is about its $4.3 billion Race to the Top competitive grant competition for school reform: It was, apparently, willing to cut food stamps to keep Race funding intact. That was one of the gems that emerged in an interview with Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) published on the Fiscal Times Web site and written by Eric Pianin and Adam Graham-Silverman. There is something peculiar -- not to mention inappropriately stubborn -- about the administration’s fierce determination to keep every Race dime that it wants. After all, the $4.35 billion originally devoted to the grant competition was not based on anything scientific, and many of the reforms meant to be taken with the money have not been proven to improve student achievement. As many times as Education Secretary Arne Duncan says that education is the civil rights issue of our time, the fact is that Race