Abstract: President Obama’s FY 2013 budget request includes another major spending increase for the Department of Education—2.5 percent more than last year—to nearly $70 billion. American taxpayers are calling for spending restraint in Washington, yet President Obama’s proposals would exacerbate the existing bureaucratic maze…
Abstract: A November 2011 Heritage Foundation report—“Assessing the Compensation of Public-School Teachers”—presented data on teacher salaries and benefits in order to inform debates about teacher compensation reform. The report concluded that public-school teacher compensation is far ahead of…
Revised and Updated on January 12, 2012 Download a PDF version with hyperlinks to House and Senate Appropriations Committee documents: Appropriations Tracker: FY 2012 Designed to inform American policymakers and citizens, the…
House appropriators deserve two cheers for their recently released bill funding the Departments of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services, Education, and related agencies for fiscal year (FY) 2012.[1] Disappointingly, the legislation only slightly reduces federal spending. Nevertheless, its policy riders take important steps in the right direction.…
Abstract: President Obama’s Educate to Innovate initiative has provided billions in additional federal funding for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education programs across the country. The Administration’s recognition of the importance of STEM education— for global competitiveness…
Abstract: If allowed to take effect, three regulations proposed by the U.S. Department of Education will raise costs for students and limit their educational opportunities. These regulations would require state authorization of higher education institutions, impose gainful employment requirements, and dictate a one-size-fits-all definition…
The Senate will soon consider creating a $10 billion “Education Jobs Fund.” The measure has already been included in a war funding bill passed in early July by the House. Union influence and power has continued to prevent meaningful education reform, and another public education bailout from Washington will further…
Congress will soon consider spending $10 billion to prevent layoffs in the public education sector. This money comes in addition to the $80 billion awarded to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) for K-12 education as a result of the stimulus bill. While DOE funding has…
Congress will soon consider a $23 billion spending measure for public education. This money comes on the heels of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)—the so-called stimulus bill—which contained $80 billion in K-12 education funding. Further, President Obama’s fiscal year (FY) 2011 budget request seeks to increase discretionary…
The year 2010 will surely go down as a bad year for Head Start—a “Great Society” pre-school program intended to provide a boost to disadvantaged children before they enter elementary school. First, a scientifically rigorous experimental evaluation of Head Start found that the program largely failed to improve the cognitive,…
Abstract: American education needs to be fixed, but national standards and testing are not the way to do it. The problems that need fixing are too deeply ingrained in the power and incentive structure of the public education system, and the renewed focus on…
Back in July 2006, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA) appeared at a gas station in Washington, D.C., to draw...…
Edwin J. Feulner, who has led The Heritage Foundation to its current international prominence among think tanks, is...…
President Obama’s near-term spending proposals for the Department of Education (DOE) are a staggering display of federal...…
More than half of states have asked the U.S. Department of Education for a waiver from No Child Left Behind. Ten years...…
Democrats in the Michigan state legislature recently announced the “Michigan 2020” plan, a proposal to provide “free”...…
The positive momentum from the “Year of School Choice” in 2011 is being carried over into 2012, with several states...…
As gas prices continue to climb, approaching a nationwide average of nearly $4, lawmakers in Washington turned their...…
A newly released report by David Deming, assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School for Education, shows that...…
Four years after data collection was completed, Americans are still awaiting the results of a study conducted by the...…
I was in awe of Andrew Breitbart the first time I met him in the fall of 2005 at Restoration Weekend. Listening to his...…