The Great Education Debate

by guestblogger Chad Aldeman

Wow, what a night for Ed in ‘08! Their four-year stealth campaign to put education onto the national landscape finally paid off! Both candidates for president mentioned education early and often, sometimes even in surprising ways. President Obama mentioned Race to the Top three times, he made a veiled reference to the Common Core (and the role the feds had in supporting it), and he (sorta) endorsed class size reductions (even though his Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has urged “modest but smartly targeted increases in class size”). Governor Romney also praised Duncan and Race to the Top, but in the (education) quote of th­e night he said:

I’m not going to cut education funding. I don’t have any plan to cut education funding and grants that go to people going to college. I’m planning on continuing to grow [education], so I’m not planning on making changes there.

As Kevin Carey tweeted afterward, “Good night for education policy wonks, all of our programs exempted from cuts for the next four years. Suck it, rest of budget!”

What does this all mean? Join Andy “Eduwonk” Rotherham as he moderates between Fightin’ Fordham’s Mike Petrilli and Charlie “De-FER to No One” Barone. They’ll discuss the education policy proposals of the two major presidential candidates—and then you can stay to watch the next official Obama-Romney debate on TV.

WHEN: Tuesday, October 16, 2012, 6:30-10:30 p.m.

WHERE: The Getaway, 1400 Meridian Place NW (Accessible via Columbia Heights metro station)

Space is limited, but you can RSVP at: http://bit.ly/QlEjUv