Opinion: How Much Government is Good for Education?

Editor's Note: The autor is Laura Waters, who has been president of the Lawrence Township Board of Education for six years. She also blogs about New Jersey education policy and politics at www.NJLeftBehind.com. A former instructor at SUNY Binghamton in a program that served educationally disadvantaged students from New York's inner cities, she holds a Ph.D. in early American literature from Binghamton.

The deadline just passed for the third round of Race To The Top, the federal government's education reform competition. Maybe the third time's the charm for beleaguered New Jersey, which lost the first two rounds -- the first by miles, the second by inches. Now we're trying yet again, this time for a potential $60 million targeted for early childhood education.

Buck up, Garden State. Our status as an also-ran is no indication of our importance in the roiling national debate about the proper role of the government in public education. In fact, we're a barometer for gauging the national zeitgeist, with a couple of Jersey twists.

Consider the following exchange at a debate among candidates for the Republican presidential nomination last month in Orlando regarding President Obama's education reform agenda, codified in Race To The Top:

Gov. Rick Perry: There are a lot of good ideas here on the side and whether it is cutting back on the Department of Education, making those types of reductions … But there is one person on this stage that is for Obama's Race to the Top and that is Governor Romney. He said so just this last week. And I think that is an important difference between the rest of the people on this stage and one person that wants to run for the presidency. Being in favor of the Obama Race to the Top and that is not conservative.

Gov. Mitt Romney: I'm not sure exactly what he's saying. I don't support any particular program that he's describing … Education has to be held at the local and state level, not at the federal level. We need to get the federal government out of education."

Then the rest of the candidates on stage piped in with their disdain for the intrusion of the feds into matters best left to the states. Rasped Rep. Ron Paul, "If you care about our children, you'll get the federal government out of the business of educating our kids." Rep. Michelle Bachman vowed that if elected she would "pass the mother of all repeal bills" to get rid of the "entire federal education law." After that, she'd "go over to the federal department of education. I'd turn off the lights, I'd lock the door, and I'd send all the money back to the states and localities." Jon Huntsman jumped right into the anti-fed mosh pit: "you've got to say no to unfunded mandates coming out of Washington. Localize, localize, localize."

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