GOP can learn from the Gipper on education

Ronald Reagan did not believe that Washington could do much to solve our nation’s most pressing social problems. Except, it seems, when it came to education. The Great Gipper was among the first to understand the scope of our nation’s education crisis, and his administration pushed for the federal government to take a bigger role in making sure that all students achieved at high levels. And if today’s GOP really wants to improve our public education system, they should take note.
 
To be sure, when Reagan first ran for office in 1980, he sounded a lot like today’s Republican party on education issues. Reagan promised to roll back the federal role in education and abolish the Department of Education, calling the agency “President Carter’s new bureaucratic boondoggle.”
 
But soon after coming into office, Reagan almost completely switched his position. The reason was simple: In 1984, a federal commission released “A Nation at Risk,” a scathing report that documented the failure of our education system.

Reagan responded largely by pushing for greater federal involvement in schools. His administration emphasized using the federal National Assessment of Educational Progress as a way to benchmark state performance. He also proposed a number of increases in education funding. “I’ve given education so much time […] for a very clear and simple reason: It’s because we in this administration view education as central to American life,” Reagan said.
 

Reagan changed his policy position when confronted with the painful realities of American schooling. But today’s GOP has not learned that lesson, and many in the party still want to roll back the federal role in education. Most of the presidential candidates claim, for instance, that they will shutter the Department of Education if elected, and the rest would drastically reduce its footprint. “We need to get the federal government out of education,” argues Mitt Romney. “The smallest level of government possible best performs education,” says Ron Paul.
 
But the warnings of A Nation at Risk are still relevant; our schools remain in deep crisis. When the National Assessment of Educational Progress for urban districts was released last month, it showed that most students are way behind in the academic basics, and only 4 percent of Detroit's eighth graders performed at grade level in math. We also continue to lag behind our international peers on importance outcome measures, and on a recent science test, the U.S. ranked 23rd out of 65 countries, scoring on par with nations like Poland.
 
The federal government can help improve our schools, and there are smart, capacity-building ways for Washington to boost academic standards and ensure that all schools are held accountable for their performance. Take the development of the new Common Core standards, which provide students clear expectations of what they need to know and be able to do. While leaving it up to the states to decide what went into the standards, the federal government helped promote the effort, including funding two consortia of states to develop tests based on the standards. Today, more than 45 states have joined the effort.
 
The Department of Education can also help ensure that all students—regardless of their family income—have access to a good education. Currently, many states have unequal funding systems in which high-poverty districts get less money than wealthier ones. In New Hampshire, for  instance, a district with a 30 percent poverty rate receives about two-thirds the money per student than a district with no student poverty. Through federal programs that provide additional funds for low-income students such as Title I, Washington helps to equalize opportunity, helping to ensure that all students get a fair shot at a good education.
 
The GOP’s roll back-the-federal-role position has also made it difficult for schools and districts around the country to innovate and improve. Consider the No Child Left Behind Act, which is in serious need of repair. Almost a decade old, the law requires schools to implement strategies that are not strong enough to help schools get better. But while Congress needs to reform the law, Republicans have stymied efforts to pass a bipartisan bill because they want to gut the federal role.
 
Without question, Reagan was wrong on a lot of education issues. He pushed for mandatory prayer in public schools, which is a violation of the separation of church and state. He also advocated for tuition tax credits for private schools, which are unlikely to improve student achievement and undermine the virtues of public schooling.
 
The federal government will never solve all of our education ills. But Reagan understood that our school system needs to improve dramatically, which is why he supported a federal role in our schools. And today’s Republicans who so often pay homage to Reagan on issues of taxes and foreign policy should also study the Great Communicator’s stance on education. As Reagan said near the end of his presidency: “Strengthening [America’s] values… demands a national commitment to excellence in education.”
 
Boser is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.

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