Thursday, January 27, 2011

Obama School Reform Plan Relies on Big Business - BusinessWeek

Obama School Reform Plan Relies on Big Business - BusinessWeek

Obama School Reform Plan Relies on Big Business

With Republicans gunning for the Education Dept., the President needs companies to help him fend off deep budget cuts

To help the U.S. compete with emerging economies such as China and India, President Barack Obama pitched Congress on a renewed focus on education in his Jan. 25 State of the Union message. "This is our generation's Sputnik moment," he said, invoking the U.S. response to the Soviet Union's 1957 launch of the first satellite. That feat, at the height of the Cold War, jarred American assumptions of technological superiority.

With a divided Congress and House Republicans gunning for the Education Dept., Obama's school reform plans may depend largely on Big Business. Administration officials say