How Republicans Can Win The 'Burbs: Weighted Student Funding?

Check out this National Review article (Battle for the ’Burbs), which analyzes the problems with current Republican strategy on education and proposes a new -- but not so easy -- course of action:

"The educational arms race is central to the lives of upper-middle-class suburbanites...[But] the real educational crisis for most suburban families is a crisis of affordability, in which home prices and tax rates in above-average school districts climb as ambitious parents struggle to give their children a leg up."

The proposed solution?  Ditch vouchers, inter-district choice, or getting rid of local districts.  Forget about charterizing the nation (too slow!).  Instead, outflank those pesky liberals and push for charter-like school based budgeting (aka weighted student funding).   Right, because that's gone down so easily. 

Comments

[john thompson]

Its a good thing that I didn't read this before writing about Differientiated Accountability aka the Suburban Schools Relief Act. I'd still be droning on about how we are stepping into the Republican's punch. If they follow this strategy, we Dems will be kicking ourselves for allowing them to drive a wedge between liberals and the NEA. I've never understood why we thought we could help inner city kids by attacking suburban teachers.

We need to redefine our strategy for achieving equity. We need to abandon the beggar thy neighbor apporach of comparability and find a more practical way to build capacity in urban schools without picking a fight with suburban and lower poverty schools.

I don't have a solution, and maybe some commenters have a better way of phrasing the issue. But there are two lessons to the NR story. Like Colbert says, they are "a worthy opponent." Secondly, we can't continue to seek progressive goals by copying reactionary politics.