President Obama Goes Too Far
On the eve of his third State of the Union address, President Obama will go before Congress to remind them that unless they abide by his wishes and enact policies on his terms, he will do it for them. And in many areas, he already has. Under the guise, “We can’t wait for Congress to do its job. If they won’t act, I will.” the President and his henchmen have defied Congress over and over. Whether it is making recess appointments of controversial individuals without going through the congressional vetting process, granting waivers by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to large companies to ignore provisions of Obamacare, or requiring a private company to hire union workers in a right to work state, this Administration consistently bypasses the legislative process to achieve its political goals. It is quite ironic that this President even feels like he has to address a joint session of Congress to outline his vision for the country when he disregards their authority at every turn.
At the Department of Education, President Obama continues to thumb his nose at Congress and enact policies that will lead to a federal takeover of our education system. Beginning with the elimination of the private sector from the student loan program two years ago and now moving to enact “conditional waivers” to states that implement his education reform agenda, this administration is tightening its grip over how states and local school districts educate our children.
Just last week, in an interview with Education Week, Secretary Duncan made clear that “given the choice between sticking with his waiver strategy or having to live with one of the proposed versions of a new ESEA Act offered by the House and Senate, he said the choice is clear. "No question the waivers are a stronger plan," he said. "I hope that changes. I hope at some point next month, six months from now, or next year that we get a strong bipartisan bill; unfortunately that's not reality." In addition, Secretary Duncan also said he was considering withholding Title 1 funds to states that refuse to apply for a waiver and continue to follow the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. This is unprecedented. Never before has a Secretary of Education penalized a state for agreeing to comply with current law requirements. On the contrary, states are penalized, and should be, for non-compliance of federal education statutes.
During his State of the Union speech, President Obama will proclaim that he is not waiting for Congress to fix the No Child Left Behind Act. In the name of flexibility, the President will announce that his administration will provide relief to states who cannot meet the accountability requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. He will do this by requiring states to adhere to his Race to the Top requirements in order to receive a waiver from the current NCLB law. Since Congress has significantly reduced the funding for the Race to the Top competitive grant program, these waivers will effectively impose the Race to the Top requirements on all states if they want to receive a waiver without the approval or consideration by Congress. Eleven states have already applied for these waivers but many more have decided to stay with the current law rather than implement new unproven federal education requirements. However, if Secretary Duncan follows through on his threat to withhold critical Title 1 funds from states that do not apply for the waivers, expect to see more applications start flowing to the Department of Education.
President Obama will also tout his policies to make college more affordable by relieving students of their responsibility to repay their student loan debt. By allowing a student borrower’s loan to be forgiven after 20 years and capping the repayments at 10 percent of their discretionary income, President Obama has shifted this debt to the taxpayer allowing students to get a college education for practically nothing. This is yet another end run around Congress that will significantly increase our deficit in the years to come.
President Obama and Secretary Duncan complain loudly that this Congress, particularly House Republicans, has done nothing to enact an education reform agenda. That is just not the case. The House Committee on Education and the Workforce has considered four education reform bills, one of which has passed the full House. Congressman Kline (R-MN), chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, just recently released draft legislation to reform the accountability and teacher training provisions of NCLB. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has also passed a comprehensive reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This is more progress toward reauthorizing the NCLB law than anything that happened when the Democrats controlled the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House during the first two years of President Obama’s term. In fact, no legislation passed either body during that time.
Make no mistake about it. President Obama wants more federal control over education, not less. Congress must find a way to stop this administration from these abuses of its executive power. Otherwise, our educational system will look more like the failed European model with Secretary Duncan, not governors, principals or parents, at the helm.
