(From Huffington Post, May 4th, 2012)
President Barack Obama and Republican hopeful Mitt Romney haven’t been talking much about education’s toughest questions aside from recent attention on student loan interest rates.
To that extent, neither are even discussing their own successes in school reform, largely because of a party-base problem, Andrew Rotherham writes for TIME.
While Obama has four years of presidency under his belt, and an extensive education record to show for it, some are wondering how Romney’s platform and past achievements in the area would translate in the Oval Office.
In a policy brief released Friday by the Democrats for Education Reform, DFER Policy Analyst Omar Lopez, DFER Massachusetts State Director Liam Kerr and DFER Director of Federal Policy Charlie Barone write a tough review of “What Kind of President Would Mitt Romney Be on Education,” and grade both the presumptive nominee and Obama in an “Education Report Card.”
“It will be critical to educate voters on what the likely result of a Romney administration would be on education policy for both the middle class and our most economically vulnerable,” the DFER authors write. “Nothing short of an abandonment of the issue of school reform, a rejection of bipartisanship, and a shirking of responsibility to help college students and local schools with precious federal resources at a time when their own budgets are tighter than at any time in recent history.”
Overall, Romney supports testing and accountability, merit pay and school choice, but is skeptical of the role of unions and efforts to reduce class size. He recently backed Obama’s student loan proposal to keep interest rates from doubling to 6.8 percent on July 1. The issue has received criticism from conservative interest groups like American Action Forum, which argues that the higher rate would only cost each student an average $1,000 more in debt over the term of the loan, or around $7 per month in future payments.
But as the DFER authors point out, Romney also supports Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) “A Roadmap for America’s Future” fiscal year 2013 budget proposal, which would cut Pell Grant eligibility. The proposal would therefore reduce total Pell grants by about $170 billion over the next decade — largely affecting poor students — and allows for Stafford loan interest rates to double to 6.8 percent. It would also end student loan interest subsidies for those in school and make Pell spending discretionary instead of mandatory.