The costs were visible and tangible. The promised benefits were not received. Critics warned of overtesting, cuts to important programs and threats to beloved teachers’ jobs, and pointed to ample examples to give credibility to their concerns. Meanwhile, reformers offered hypothetical, amorphous rewards: efficient spending and responsible schools. Political analysts since Machiavelli have described what would happen if such a battle took shape. Spoiler: The reformers end up badly.
This politics is similar to the politics of Social Security and Medicare, where elected officials who care about the long term and want to address shortages are skewered for the issue. Everyone likes to benefit from these programs, but no one likes the idea of paying more for a program, getting less from a program, or waiting longer to qualify for a program. . That’s why President Trump is doing everything he can to move closer to Harris’ left on rights, including adding IVF coverage to Medicare and making Social Security benefits tax-free.
If voters are absolutely opposed to eating vegetables, public officials will eventually give voters what they want or be replaced by people who will. Well, welcome to education policy around 2024. In a populist, meme-filled age, stories about complex policy debates and shared sacrifices are less popular. What we see instead is a lot of tribalism and dissatisfaction with the cost of living. And that gave rise to education politics, famous for its culture wars and candy bags.
That’s why so many Republican governors sound like Donald Trump when it comes to women’s sports and CRT/DEI, but like Kamala Harris when it comes to teacher pay and early childhood education. To understand this more clearly, it is useful to set aside the main thrust of culturally influenced policy battles and categorize the side dishes into convenient little in-and-out tables.
for the Democratic Party
Contents:
Teacher Salaries Student Loan Forgiveness and College Affordability Career and Technical Education (CTE) Early Childhood Spending
What’s happening:
Accountability Charter School
for the republican party
Contents:
School Choice College Affordability Teacher Payments for CTE Early Childhood Spending Science-Based Literacy
What’s happening:
Accountability Teacher Contract Pruning Efficiency
I found something to eat vegetables. What’s in it? The sugar-coated content — teacher pay, loan forgiveness, college cost reductions, CTE, early childhood funding — is just about every positive for elected officials (eventually the bill (This is different if the deadline for submitting the application is due.)
Now, there are two big items on the Republican “participation” list that make things even more complicated. One is the “science of reading.” Driven by both pragmatic grievances and a conservative antipathy toward “whole-language” progressivism, this, even if partially fueled by culture-clash fury, is the Bush-versus-Obama dalliance we’ll see in 2024. It may be the closest one. (The politics of reading is interesting, so I’ll leave that for another time.)
Next is school selection. Politically speaking, the great thing about school choice is that it gives families the freedom to decide what kind of education is best for their children. This has immediate and tangible benefits for families. But the political challenge is that the negative effects are immediate, with critics able to point to declining enrollment and the impact on budgets. Still others worry that this choice will upend familiar and comfortable arrangements, especially in suburban and rural communities. Because of these complex factors, the attractiveness of choice tends to vary based on state context, program design, and sales pitch.
So what does this mean for the next year or two?
