“Stimulus” = Education Funding Floor?

By Neal McCluskey

We were warned.

When Washington passed the so-called “stimulus” bill, with its tens-of-billions for K-12 education, we were warned that the money wouldn’t just provide a one-time infusion of supposedly economy-saving cash. No, it would furnish a towering new spending floor for already super-funded government schools and numerous other beneficiaries.

Well here come the sky lifts again. According to Education Week, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) is pushing legislation that would pile $23 billion in new federal funding into education once the stimulus cash dries up. And this money – which, of course, we don’t actually have – is intended not only to protect the jobs of teachers and other staff, but add even more employees to the obscene jobs program that is public schooling.

Would this be a good time to mention that the Constitution gives the federal government zero authority to fund or control education? Oh, who cares about that?

Topics:
Education and Child Policy, General, Tax and Budget Policy
Tags:
economy, education, education week, federal government, government, government schools, PASS, public school, public schooling, SEnator Tom Harkin, spending, stimulus, teachers, washington