What will they do for us?

Now that the Democrats have taken control of the house (I'm unspeakably proud of the fact that we have a woman as speaker - yeah!) and presumably the senate (um, c'mon, Burns and Allen. Just like when we knew it was over for Kerry, we know it's over for you. Conceed. Be the bigger men.), what will the dems do for education?

There's an article in EdWeek to that effect - apparently dems will work to lower interest rates on student loans in their first wave of legislation (thank God), and then eventually work on tuition tax credits. Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) has said that he will work to reauthorize No Child Left Behind, but that they will examine state accountability and testing for special education and English language learners. Sounds good to me. I believe in high standards and accountability (especially fiscal accountability, which I don't think NCLB really does), but I don't know that any of that is actually happening at their schools. To me it seems that states are lowering their standards to ensure their schools recieve federal funds.

Oh, and former Dem governor of Iowa Tom Vilsack is going to run for president. I need to check out his education record before I make any decisions. I've decided to become an education voter. I abstained from voting for DC mayor because I'm inclined to dislike mayoral control of schools, which Fenty seems to want. Although I am slowly warming up to Fenty. We'll see where he takes us. I also didn't vote because I don't like not being given a real choice in the election. A Republican no one takes seriously doesn't do much for debate. And all the Republicans here run in Democrats clothing. What does it tell you that our "Democratic" mayor-elect wants to do some of the same reforms that the "Republican" mayor of New York City has done? I don't think either one of them fits party label.