Arlen Specter vs. Pat Toomey on Education Issues

March 23, 2004

Sometimes a political race--which is of no direct interest to folks outside the geographic boundaries of that contest--can serve as a metaphor for a greater issue, in this case, education reform.

This April, Pennsylvania Republicans will go to the polls to nominate their choice of candidate to run in the general election in November for one of Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate seats.

The choice is between incumbent Senator Arlen Specter (left) and Representative Pat Toomey (right).

Technically, while only the 3.2 million PA Republicans can vote in this matchup--exactly 1% of the U.S. population (or one two-thousandth of the world total!)--this race should be watched by anyone interested in education reform. It provides an interesting perspective into the intersection of education and politics, especially because both legislators are from the same party.

To compare the two candidates fairly, we went to their respective websites, where each has a position page on education.

We'll begin with Specter, whose Education Issues page details his record as a Senator. As Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, he's been quite an advocate of increased funding for a variety of educational issues.

The salient points (as we see them) of his Education page:

• "strongly advocated for Senate passage of a $554.6 billion budget for the U.S. Department of Education"
• "supported the No Child Left Behind Act"
• "worked to provide $20 million for the Pennsylvania Department of Education in fiscal year 2003" for low-performing school districts
• "provided $6.81 billion in the Senate Fiscal Year 2004 Appropriations Bill for Early Head Start and Head Start"
• "worked to ensure $10.76 billion in the [2004] Senate Appropriations Bill for Special Education programs"

We just have one question: Why must monies be collected in the form of tax revenue from citizens in the 50 states, then (after paying for the salaries at the U.S. Department of Education, of course), doled out at the federal level back to those 50 states? Especially since there isn't one mention of "Education" in the U.S. Constitution?



Now we'll contrast this with Toomey, whose "Promoting Educational Excellence" Issues page speaks more of his position and philosophy.

The page is so brief that there's little need to summarize. We'll quote the juiciest part (emphasis ours):

In order to provide children with the best possible start, Congressman Toomey firmly believes that parents should be in control of their children’s education decisions, not government bureaucrats.

The best way to put parents in charge of their children’s educations is let them choose the schools their children attend. Congressman Toomey has advocated and voted for giving parents this freedom, believing that parents know best what is good for their children and that the competition that would result from a variety of choices would elevate the quality of education for all children.

There really isn't much more to say than to advocate parental choice. This is the single most important thing that any politician could do to improve quality of our schools, for a rising tide lifts all boats.



Increased funding versus increased freedom. How can two Pennsylvania Republicans differ so widely?

Millersville University's Center for Politics and Public Affairs, in their September 2003 analysis of the race, speaks of the conflict between nearly the entire Pennsylvania (and national) Republican leadership (which supports Specter) and the more conservative members of Pennyslvania's GOP (who favor Toomey): "This internal struggle is essentially a conflict between pragmatism and ideology."

What they mean is that the GOP leadership is interested in holding onto Specter's seat in Congress, therefore they're the pragmatists.

We disagree. We'd call this conflict one between pure politics and core values. It is a measure of just how truly the Republican leadership supports their core values where, when push comes to shove, they end up taking the nakedly political path.

Meanwhile schoolchildren--and their parents--are nowhere to be found.