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Most GOP Education Activists Still Sizing Up Field

Presidential candidates offer few specifics so far on K-12 policy proposals.

Republican education policy advisers and advocates are divided over where Congress and the next presidential administration should take federal K-12 policy: Some applaud the 5-year-old No Child Left Behind Act for holding states accountable for student achievement, while others are put off by the major expansion of the federal role in education.

So far, it’s unclear how that debate will play out in the race for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. Republican experts on education issues are largely uncommitted at this early stage. Some state policymakers have begun advising one of the candidates, but most are waiting to see the ideas the current candidates put forth or who else gets into the race. Besides the declared contenders, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee may still jump in.

The next president could oversee reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind law, President Bush’s signature initiative in education, as many observers predict the measure won’t be renewed on schedule this year or...