The U.S. Department of Education is 32 years old. Many of us remember when then-President Carter separated Education from the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. It was yet another Carter boondoggle.

I was the first White House Liaison for the US Dept of Education under President Reagan. Reagan had campaigned to eliminate the Department of Education – and I took the position fully expecting that would be done. I saw first-hand how hard the bureaucracy fought elimination, or even downsizing. And I was there when the information was being gathered for “A Nation At Risk” which was our first wake-up call that our education system was failing millions of students.

Folks, we have not gained ground and we are leaving students behind every single day.

We know the federal government has no role in education, and that the states have responsibility for education. Moreover, school systems are the last big monopoly in the country.
We have seen funding increase far beyond the increase in student population and inflation, and student performance has not soared proportionately.

In Texas, we launched The Red Apple Project which provides insight into how education dollars are allocated and just how Texas school districts are doing. It is not a pretty picture. Funding has grown five times faster than student enrollment, and most ISD’s have one non-teaching staff for every teacher, while spending only 50% of the education funds in the classroom. (To view the state totals and your own ISD snapshot, go to: www.RedAppleProject.com)

It’s time we fund the child’s education, not institutions. It’s time we put education in the hands of the local communities. And it’s long past time we allow parents the freedom to select the educational institutions where they believe their children have the greatest opportunity to succeed.

Here is an article well worth a read:
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1GBoGN/www.good.is/post/happy-32nd-birthda...