Redefining the Federal Role in Education

—iStockphoto.com/pictafolio

Advice for the winner of next week's election

By Paul Manna and Keenan Kelley

Since at least the late 1980s, it has been difficult to determine whether candidates for the White House have been running to be president or the country's superintendent of schools. Efforts to claim the "education president" mantle have been legion in campaigns during the past two decades or so, and the 2012 election season has been no exception.

President Barack Obama has touted his administration's Race to the Top program and its related menu of competitive-grant programs, while promising in the next decade to help the nation produce 100,000 more science and math teachers. Across the aisle, former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts has included, as part of his economic plan, a promise to use federal funds to expand school choice and unleash competitive pressures, which he says will improve academic performance.

Despite both candidates' promises, this year's campaign unfortunately has failed to grapple with a more fundamental set of questions. How well positioned are federal leaders to improve the quality of the nation's schools? What can the federal government do better than states and localities in K-12 education? What is Washington's comparative advantage in...