Congressional leaders recently unveiled a draft of the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Widely touted as an economic stimulus package, the $825 billion draft legislation includes as much as $142 billion for education--roughly twice the annual budget of the entire Department of Education. Should it pass, this legislation will dramatically increase the role of the federal government in education.
The plan would spread the funding among early education, K-12 and higher education programs, and in order to access the funding states will have to comply with a host of new regulations. Setting aside the fact that increasing federal spending on education will not improve the economy, and that a federal bailout for state governments is irresponsible, there are a few more reasons that this plan is bad for states:
A dramatic increase in federal education spending and authority is the wrong approach for encouraging economic growth or improving American students' educational opportunities. Instead of increasing federal spending--and federal debt--the federal government should help states meet current fiscal challenges by offering state policymakers greater ability to prioritize how federal education dollars are allocated to best meet their students' needs.
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