New Federal Roles in Education

n the recent presidential campaign, Governor George W. Bush insisted he was not running for the job of federal superintendent of schools. Yet he regularly discussed education issues (like testing, or how and when to teach reading) that have not previously been within the scope of federal responsibility. Meanwhile,Vice-President Al Gore made no efforts to abjure intervention in state and local education decisionmaking. He proposed increased salaries for teachers, charter schools, class size reduction, and other policies that have traditionally been beyond federal reach. Perhaps the role of the federal government in education is destined to expand from campaign rhetoric to actual intervention. But we might consider taking care of first things, first. There are some important areas of elementary and secondary education policy where the federal government could play a unique role, because these areas are specifically federal in character.