For all my friends praising NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s speech to the Urban League last week: Once you get past the tough rhetoric and the fact that, as a Mayor with control of his city’s schools, Bloomberg can actually claim credit for a laundry list of policy details–How is the federal policy recommendation at the end of his speech–give states lots more money for teachers, in exchange for incentive pay and tenure reforms–substantively different from what Democratic candidate Sen. John Edwards proposed on this front during the 2004 campaign cycle? (I actually like the 2002 speech better, because it also promotes public school choice.) And then an accompany question for my friends in the Edwards camp: Does Sen. Edwards still stand by these proposals? If so, are we going to be hearing more about them? And if not, what lead him to change his mind? And, btw, I liked your income integration plan.
–Guestblogger Sara Mead