For Education, Election a Matter Of Money

By Erik W. Robelen

Washington

Just as the Senate was wrestling with a major education bill last year, Democrats seized control of the chamber from Republicans when Sen. James M. Jeffords of Vermont bolted the gop fold and became an Independent.

By most accounts, that midstream switch didn't make a big difference in the final "No Child Left Behind" Act of 2001. The basic architecture of the legislation already had been negotiated on a bipartisan basis, and the Senate (as well as the House) approved the bill by a wide margin.

Seventeen months later, as the Nov. 5 midterm elections approach, control of one or both chambers of Congress again could change hands. The GOP has a slim majority in the House, and in the Senate, Democrats hold...