13 February 2008 20 views  Print  Email This

Barack Obama has unveiled his education plan. He wants to spend $18 billion to encourage universal pre-K, expand teacher mentoring programs, reward teachers with increased pay (not tied to standardized scores), and remove failing teachers from classrooms and replace them with ones who are "competent." Yeah, right … like he will ever be able to pass that one by the teachers’ unions.

What a daring plan! No school choice. No competitive pressures you find in the marketplace. Just get those children into the clutches of the government even sooner, and spend more money!

There is no demonstrable evidence that spending more money actually improves the quality of education. It does, however, make the unions feel all warm and fuzzy.

So where is he going to get the money? From NASA. He says he will delay NASA’s Constellation Program, which is making vehicles and rockets to go to the moon and Mars.