Why Bipartisanism Isn't Working for Education Reform

By Amy Stuart Wells

It’s not surprising that President Barack Obama focused heavily on both bipartisanism and education in his State of the Union address. Despite recent calls for civility following the shootings in Tucson, members of both parties in the divided 112th Congress have their gloves off on health care and immigration policy, with more contentious battles in the queue. Education reform, on the other hand, is one of the few policy areas in which we have seen growing political consensus. This has been good for the tenor of debate on Capitol Hill, but less so for the children in our public schools.

Since 1989, when President George H.W. Bush and the nation’s governors (including Bill Clinton) held a national summit on educational goals and standards, the two major political parties have inched closer to agreement on K-12 education policy. Democratic lawmakers such as the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Rep. George Miller of California worked closely with President George W. Bush to pass the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which required states to regularly test students on their mastery of academic standards.

Today, it is often difficult to distinguish Republicans from Democrats on key education issues. President Obama’s signature Race to the Top program, which promotes charter schools, state tests, and tough-love accountability for educators, might just as well have been proposed by a Republican president. While Democrats and Republicans may disagree on the level of federal education funding, they continue to move toward each other on what to do with those funds. In fact, as an article in Education Week recently suggested, there is more fighting within than between the two major parties on education reform these days. ( “Renewed Push on ESEA Likely,” ...