To Ensure That Democracy is No More At Risk

Last week the Forum for Education and Democracy released a hard-hitting provocative report on the current status of American education — which continues to leave many children behind. The report makes a strong case for policymakers to support our nation’s public schools similar to other countries with whom we compete economically by investing in the teaching profession, testing students for critical thinking and problem-solving, and ensuring that schools are financed equitably.

The report’s recommendations for overhauling the federal role in American education are substantial with costs estimated at an additional $29 billion a year, approximately 75 percent more than the U.S. Department of Education currently spends on K-12 education. The extra investments will (1) prepare teachers fully for high needs schools and offer incentives to keep them there, (2) create community schools that are "hubs of educational services" for children and families, (3) redesign testing and accountability systems so that they support “intellectually ambitious learning,” and (4) offer disadvantaged school communities additional resources for safe housing and health care.

Almost doubling the education budget may sound ambitious, but as Linda Darling-Hammond, one of the conveners and editors of the report noted, “What we’re talking about is an asterisk” in the federal budget. Indeed, the new dollars called for by the Forum’s recommendations amount to nothing more than 10 weeks of waging war in Iraq. The proposals are transformative – but also feasible. It is time for revolutionary change in public education. Without it our democracy will remain “at risk.”