When Russian president Vladimir Putin wrote his infamous op-ed for the New York Times earlier this year, he concluded by rejecting the idea of American exceptionalism. His thoughts sparked outrage among many.  Sadly, however, a majority of young Americans found themselves agreeing with Putin's charge.

One generally doesn’t address tax reform and education reform in the same breath.  But now is the time to do so.  As Congress assesses federal tax credits as part of a possible tax rewrite package, they should be acutely aware of the significant value of the New Markets TaxCredit (NMTC) program to charter schools nationwide.  NMTCs incentivize private lenders to provide critical funding for charter school facilities.

Suffice it to say that October 2013 tested the resiliency of Head Start children, families and advocates nationwide. Head Start Awareness Month is normally devoted to the celebration of our 50-year national commitment to providing quality early learning to America’s most vulnerable children. Unfortunately, on the very first day of Head Start Awareness Month, 19,000 of those children faced the risk of shuttered doors when the federal government shut down because Congress could not agree on a budget.

How should we teach civics when Congress doesn’t seem capable of following the principles in an eighth-grade civics textbook? The budget impasse is just the latest example of the bitter partisan struggle that our children observe as they form their impressions of politics and public life.