George W. Bush's Think Tank Advances Education Policy Agenda

Former President George W. Bush visits patients at a clinic in Zambia to promote the Bush Institute’s cancer-fighting initiative, Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon. The clinic, which offers cervical and breast cancer screening, was refurbished with the foundation’s assistance.

—Joseph Mwenda/AFP/GettyImages

By Tom Benning, The Dallas Morning News (MCT)

George W. Bush has steadfastly avoided the political fray since leaving the White House, save for the casual endorsement of Mitt Romney he offered in May through an elevator’s closing doors.

But the former president has nonetheless advanced a robust policy agenda in the last few years, using his Dallas-based think tank, the Bush Institute, to signal the issues on which he plans to focus his post-presidency.

Far from steering clear of public policy—as media reports often portray him—Bush has quietly guided the institute to start building upon parts of his presidency that remain hot topics of debate: foreign aid, accountability in education, tax...