Education priorities:  whose will prevail?

by NY Ed Reform guest blogger Peter Murphy

The U.S. House of Representatives on July 1st followed through on cutting Race to the Top funding by $500 million, and another $300 million between the Charter Schools Program and Teacher Incentive Fund, thanks to Rep. David Obey, the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, who led this action.

It’s fitting that a congressman with 41 years seniority (that being Mr. Obey) would ram through cuts in reforms programs to help finance this “edujobs” bill to subsidize teacher salaries of local school districts.

National and state education reform organizations strongly opposed this action (e.g., here), and this fight is far from over.

The Obama administration opposed the House amendment to the education appropriations bill to switch funding (here) by stating that if these cuts in reform programs remain, “the President’s senior advisors would recommend veto.”

This is a nice first step from the administration, but it’s not enough. The President is sounding equivocal by supporting both the edujobs and his reform programs, wanting it both ways. The climate in Washington, however, has turned sour on higher and higher spending, and Congress is under pressure to make choices and prioritize without adding to the federal budget deficit.

Chairman Obey should not be confused with being a fiscal hawk when it comes to spending, and he’s certainly no education reformer. But his actions to shift funding around are a step in the direction of tacit fiscal prudence.

President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan need to remind everyone that their education priorities matter more than David Obey’s. As the appropriations process advances to the U.S. Senate and then conference committee, the White House will need to come out more strongly to protect against this kind of congressional tampering to preclude Congress from calling his bluff.

Draw the line in the sand, Mr. President: whatever funding amout is agreed to subsidize district teachers must not come out of your education reform agenda – period.

Peter Murphy is Policy Director of the New York Charter Schools Association