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  he
president has made bipartisan education reform the cornerstone of
his administration." So reads one of the talking
points the
White House released at the end of its first 100 days. As the education
bill heads through committee markup toward the floor of Congress,
we are beginning to see what comes of making a fetish of bipartisanship:
a Democratic bill.
President Bush's
education proposal was at best a mixed bag. He promised to increase
federal spending, even though there is not much evidence that the
money already spent has done anything to improve education. He wanted,
in addition, to increase the federal role in education by creating
a national "accountability system" of tests. On the other
hand, Bush had some good ideas: consolidating education programs,
giving states more flexibility in spending federal grant money,
and taking some tiny steps toward school choice. For the sake of
these policies, many conservatives were willing to swallow their
objections.
One by one,
the conservative components of the bill are quietly dying. The first
to go was school choice, which administration officials made clear
would not be allowed to be an obstacle to bipartisanship. State
flexibility is likely to be a casualty of the committee room. The
number of programs being consolidated is shrinking weekly.
Still the Democrats
are unappeased. They want a $250 billion increase in education spending
over the next ten years — ten times what the president wants.
One gets the sense that if the president had proposed $250 billion,
the Democrats would be asking for $750 billion. In his speech to
Congress in February, Bush adduced the fact that education would
get the largest funding increase in his budget as proof of his commitment
to the issue. He is in no position to dispute the Democrats' rejoinder
that we can show even more commitment by multiplying that spending
by ten.
The White House
is desperate to score legislative "successes" — bills
passed by Congress and signed by Bush. But a bill that offers more
to the teachers unions than to schoolchildren is not a success.
The education bill emerging in Congress is such a bill, and it does
not deserve to pass — or to be enacted.
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