Races for Congress Have Sparse Debate on Education Issues

Some Candidates Hit NCLB, But Offer Few Specifics

The next Congress will have some big education items on its to-do list: reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act, determining the fate of the private-school-voucher program in the District of Columbia, and finishing the spending bill for the fiscal year that began this month.

But congressional candidates from both major parties aren’t being very specific about how they would address those issues, in part because other concerns, particularly the economy, are dominating House and Senate races. And it seems that contenders aren’t really sure what to say about the most pressing federal question in education: How should policymakers reshape the nearly 7-year-old NCLB law?

As a result, candidates are largely sidestepping the issue—or offering broad, largely critical rhetoric on the law without much policy detail, said Joe Williams, the executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, a New York...

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