Earmarks And Education
Yesterday's story in the Washington Post (A Reading Program's Powerful Patron) isn't just about the DC Public Schools or Voyager Expanded Learning or the Senator from Louisiana who helped win 14 earmarks worth over $8 million for the program over the past five years.
It's about how education politics really work, for better or worse. Specifically, how lawmakers and administrators help make decisions that affect what materials and curricula are used in classrooms outside of program channels. Once confined to higher ed, earmarking like this happens more and more in K12. And not just in DC.
In this case, as the Post story outlines, those involved include a Republican businessman (Randy Best), a former House approps chairman (Bob Livinston), and a Democratic senator on the right committee (Mary Landrieu).
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