A November 2011 Heritage Foundation report--"Assessing the Compensation of Public-School Teachers"--presented data on teacher salaries and benefits in order to inform debates about teacher compensation reform. The report concluded that public-school teacher compensation is far ahead of what comparable private-sector workers enjoy, and that…

This report is a comprehensive assessment of salaries, benefits, and job security for public-school teachers, intended to resolve disputes over whether teachers as a group are "overpaid" or "underpaid." The authors find that public-school teachers receive compensation about 52 percent higher than their skills would otherwise garner in the private…

Renewed interest in restoring constitutional principles has sharpened debate on a variety of policy issues. Education is no exception. The Constitution does not provide for a federal role in education, and public schools have traditionally been under the jurisdiction of local authorities. Washington's intervention seems to have brought out the…

Achievement disparities among racial and ethnic groups persist in the American education system. Asian and white students consistently perform better on standardized tests than Hispanic and black students. While many commentators blame the achievement gap on alleged disparities in school funding, this Heritage Foundation paper demonstrates that…

The federal Race to the Top (RTTT) competitive grant program awarded $4.35 billion among select states, giving preference on grant applications to those states that agreed to adopt national education standards and tests. Moreover, the Obama Administration has suggested making federal Title I funding contingent upon adoption of national…

2011 has been a milestone year for school choice, setting the bar high for state legislatures across the country to increase families' educational options. What began with a crucial re-authorization of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program continued with 12 states creating or expanding school choice options. The movement toward educational…

Federal spending on early childhood education and care exceeds $25 billion annually. President Obama and other proponents of taxpayer-funded universal preschool want to add $10 billion as an incentive for the states to expand their early childhood education and care programs--with the goal of giving all children access to state-subsidized…

The Obama Administration has signaled that it will include a $1.35 billion expansion of the "Race to the Top" (RTTT) fund in its FY 2011 budget. This is in addition to the $4.35 billion for RTTT included in last year's stimulus bill. Under the Department of Education's (DOE) guidelines for RTTT, states must meet certain requirements to be eligible…

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), signed in February 2009, included nearly $100 billion in new funding for the Department of Education (DOE). Over $36 billion of it remains unspent, and bills in both the House and Senate are calling for even more funding for teacher jobs. It is unlikely that billions more in federal spending will…

An education gap between white students and their black and Hispanic peers is something to which most Americans have become accustomed. But this racial division of education--and hence of prospects for the future--is nothing less than tragic. The good news is that the racial divide in learning is a problem that can be fixed. Of course, it can only…

A study published by the Department of Education (DOE) in June, "The Evaluation of Charter School Impacts," highlights the many benefits of charter schools. The results show unambiguously that parents are substantially more satisfied with charter schools and the academic and social development of their children who attend compared to public school…

American education needs to be fixed, but national standards and testing are not the way to do it. The problems that need fixing are too deeply ingrained in the power and incentive structure of the public education system, and the renewed focus on national standards threatens to distract from the fundamental issues. Besides, federal control over…

House Democrats recently unveiled draft legislation for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Widely touted as an economic stimulus package, the $825 billion draft legislation included as much as $142 billion for education. This includes the creation of a $79 billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund to assist state governments in…

This paper reviews nationwide education reforms under No Child Left Behind and state reforms in Florida--comparing federal and state results. The paper examines the danger that federal regulations and incentives pose to testing and accountability systems in Florida and every other state. The limits of No Child Left Behind and the promise of…

Debates about how to improve public education in America often focus on whether government should spend more on education. Federal and state policymakers proposing new education programs often base their arguments on the need to provide more resources to schools to improve opportunities for students. Many Americans seem to share this view. While…