Ok, so Obama is out asking for money again. I’m beginning to get the feeling that he is going to spend as much money as he can as quickly as he can and then sort of deal with it later- and it feels blasphemous to say, because I voted for and love President Obama. But man, do you have a policy or administrative idea that doesn’t cost over $1 billion? Is that even possible when it really comes down to it? Is that just the deal for a country with over 300 million people? Can we do anything for less than $3 per person?

I was listening to NPR this morning and they talked about Obama being at a school in Virginia as the place where he will be talking about his proposed education reforms. Some people like it and need/ want the money, while others think Federal activity in the educational sphere is no good and that any involvement from the Federal authorities is disruptive and will only lead to more reliance on standardized testing. I’m a former teacher and don’t care to get embroiled in the educational debate right now- money is good to have and standardized tests are evil- that’s the line.

In truth, though, if I were the kind of education, I would give teachers $100,000 a year, tell them to buy their own supplies and make curriculum a city or neighborhood level issue, and tell the Federal government they should give $1 to education for every $10 they put in the army- surely we can drop a 10% convenience fee to education when we are bankrupting our country paying for military supplies that we end up sending to other countries, right?

Education will never be fixed- what you need are teachers with a plan who have a real love for the kids they are working with. Make sure they are paid well and have administrative support and you’re golden. Curriculum wars and standardized testing debates are all crap- it doesn’t matter. Humans in rooms together learn and grow when challenged in a supportive framework that doesn’t dictate but also keeps a firm compass pointed toward the goals at hand.

To me, you let neighborhoods and cities have different kinds and different levels of education- so Baltimore ends up with better schools than Detroit? Fine. San Francisco teaches a way different curriculum and worldview than Dallas? Of course.

Obama wants $1.35 billion more than the $4.35 billion he already included as part of the stimulus bill to expand the education reform initiatives. Of course it should be an easy decision. Take the money. That is a drop in the bucket of our military budget from last year.

"Over the past few months we've seen such a positive response that today I'm announcing our intention to make a major new investment. There are any number of actions we can take as a nation to enhance our competitiveness and secure a better future for our people, but few of them will make as much of a difference as improving the way we educate our sons and daughters," said President Obama at the school.

 Photo Credit: tsevis (via Flickr under CCL)