April 14, 2010 2:07PM 

# “Stimulus” = Education Funding Floor? 

By [Neal McCluskey](https://www.cato.org/people/neal-mccluskey) 

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We were warned.

When Washington passed the so-called “stimulus” bill, with its tens-of-billions for K‑12 education, [we were warned ](https://www.cato.org/2009/02/11/will-stimulus-become-a-3-trillion-nightmare/)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](https://www.cato.org/2009/02/06/hitting-bone-is-the-least-of-our-worries/) [super-funded](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11432) 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 ](http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2010/04/harkin_proposes_job_aid_for_ca.html)once the stimulus cash dries up. And this money — which, of course, we[don’t actually have ](http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/)– is intended not only to protect the jobs of teachers and other staff, but add even more employees to the [obscene jobs program](https://www.cato.org/2010/02/17/public-schools-one-big-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](https://www.cato.org/2009/12/18/sorry-to-keep-interrupting-your-folly-with-the-constitution-but/)*? Oh, who cares about that?

##### Related Tags 

[Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) 

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