Jebucation Follies (Part I: The Conservative Conundrum)
I give Jeb! Bush credit for one thing-- sincerity. While other politicians have adopted and disinherited reformster policies quicker than you can say "political expediency," Bush has stuck to his guns, even when those guns are aimed squarely at his own feet. Even when he's dead wrong about everything.
Now Bush, whose campaign seems designed to spin rich backers money into vapor, has gone back to the education well one more time with a comprehensive-ish education plan. It really is worth a look, as long as you think of it less as "Jeb! Bush's Bold Plan for US Education" and more "A Compendium of Current Reformster Greatest Hits." I'll be using the "backgrounder" that EdWeek kindly posted on their site. Let's wade in, shall we?
I'm going to address the plan in two parts. Here in Part I, I'll take a look at the lump of self-contradictory principle that is the foundation of Bush's plan. In Part II, we'll get into the nuts and bolts.
Bush opens with a general statement of his guiding theory of change. Here's the critical paragraph:
Governor Bush’s goal is to ensure that all Americans, no matter their background or zip code, graduate from high school, college or career ready, and have the opportunity to pursue affordable post-secondary education or training. Achieving this goal requires a complete overhaul of a system CURMUDGUCATION: Jebucation Follies (Part I: The Conservative Conundrum):
Jebucation Follies (Part II: The Nuts, Bolts and Screws)
Jeb! Bush has a shiny new education plan, and he hopes that it will be the big lightning bolt that will shock his comatose candidacy back to life. In Part I, I examined his premises and theories,arguing that the big crack in his foundation is the conservative-thwarting oxymoron of imposed choice. In this part, I want to look at the actual nuts and bolts of Bush's grand plan.
I'm using the "backgrounder" that EdWeek is kindly hosting on its site. After three pages of general argument, the plan gets down to some nitty with a side order of gritty. Here are the pieces of this master action plan.
Empower Parents and Students with Quality Options
For some reason or other, part of this list includes some specific plans for DC. Why federal ed proposals need to keep singling out one district in the whole country remains a bit of a mystery, unless, of course, it has to do with DC-dwelling bureaucrats and policy makers wanting to exercise local control over their local school district.
Beyond the beltway, Bush wants a thousand charter schools to bloom. He invokes the oft-debunked spectre of waitlisted students. Bush wants to double the amount of money that the feds would throw at charter schools, which is curious since I keep hearing that more money is not the solution in