Ted Kennedy's death got plenty of coverage, but the battle to replace him in the Senate has been overshadowed by elections this week in New Jersey and Virginia. While all four candidates in the Dec. 8 special election in Massachusetts are liberals in the Kennedy tradition, only one is carrying forward his reform ideas—and those of President Obama—on the most important domestic issue of the 21st century. (Click here to follow Jonathan Alter)
It's not health care—the politicians will work something out soon enough. It's education. If we don't tuck in our shirts and pay attention to educating the workforce of the future, we're going to flunk as a nation. The days when we could write off millions of young people and expect to survive economically are over.
Kennedy worked closely with President Bush on the flawed and deeply unpopular No Child Left Behind Act. Like a packaged-goods company with a tainted product, the Obama administration has left that name behind and now calls its program the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, LBJ's original title in 1965. But the accountability-and-standards movement Kennedy and Bush launched is essential, and Obama has moved much faster than expected to advance it. He and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are showing some Chicago muscle and giving states a "choice" right out of The Untouchables: lift your caps on the number of innovative charter schools allowed and your prohibitions on holding teachers accountable for whether kids learn—or lose a chance for some of Obama's $5 billion "Race to the Top" money. Massachusetts recently lifted its charter cap and nearly a dozen other states are scampering to comply. Now that's hardball we can believe in.
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