Jeb Bush’s reform summit: Democratic-GOP ‘mind meld?’
A Vulcan mind meld
If you watched Star Trek, you will remember the Vulcan ‘mind meld,’ which was just what it sounds like: a technique that allows two people to share thoughts, experiences, and everything else one finds in a mind. While this doesn’t qualify for a complete mind meld (some differences still remain), the Democratic and Republican school reform minds have melded so much that John Podesta, founder and chairman of the Center for American Progress, who was president Clinton’s chief of staff and and co-chair of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential transition team, is giving a keynote address at Jeb Bush’s fifth annual reform summit.
The Excellence in Action Summit, the work of former Florida governor Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education, is scheduled for Nov. 27-28 in Washington D.C. (If you wanted to go, it’s too bad; registration is closed but keynote speeches and general sessions will be live streamed.)
First up on the agenda is a discussion about (what else?) vouchers and tax credit scholarships, because that is what matters to Bush and his like-minded reformers. The official name of Strategy Session 1 is “Reaching More Students With Vouchers and Tax-