What Do the Midterm Elections Mean for U.S. Education?

President Obama just declared an “educational arms race.” He is pushing Congress to make the tax credit covering college tuition of up to $2,500 per year permanent and reauthorize the reformed version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. However, will the 2010-midterm elections change the way government is handling education?

The GOP may gain control in one of the Congressional houses. According to The Washington Times, several Tea Party Senate candidates vocalized their desire to get rid of the Education Department altogether because they want more local control, and the department is going too far with its Common Core State Standards Initiative and Race to the Top. If voters elect such candidates, and the GOP gains majority control in a house, we may see a pull away from national control.

Why are the parties varying so much on their stands on education? The Democratic Party maintains national standards are necessary for equality of opportunity - all students deserve an equal education. The Tea Party is antigovernment and antiregulatory and proposes local and state rights. These populist leaders want to check Washington elites from infringing on true Americans and leave schools to “local school boards, teachers, parents, people…and not have it in Washington.” However, the Democratic Party points to the counter values of community and civic republicanism – we need to pay taxes to support schools and value the future of the nation over ourselves. Tea Party leaders would retort that yes, communities are the ones who need to regain control, so the federal government needs to pull back a bit, or actually, a lot.

Madison’s bicameral structure may result in a Republican Senate and a Democrat House of Representatives. Will the two houses be able to work together and create effective bipartisan education reform? The upcoming midterm election may determine whether the U.S.’s federalist structure of local, state, and national institutions will result in coordination and halt increasing inequalities in schools either by focusing education more locally or nationally, or result in lack of cohesion and want of effectiveness.