The ''Ed-Flex'' bill, for one, looked like a winner. With support from the White House, Congress, and all 50 governors, Ed-Flex seemed to be on a fast track to enactment. But instead of becoming a mark of lawmakers' determination to stop sniping and get back to business, Ed-Flex bogged down in the Senate in a blizzard of Democratic amendments, its future uncertain.
Education policy is too important to be bushwhacked in a partisan melee.
At stake is the quality of schooling for millions of American children. The two parties do have real philosophical differences on education, and they should debate them. But lawmakers should not let political gamesmanship sidetrack those initiatives on which they actually agree. Democratic leaders, keen to deny the Republicans a quick legislative victory on such a popular issue, turned debate over the Ed-Flex bill into a referendum on billions of dollars worth of pet Democratic proposals, such as money to hire 100,000 more teachers. The blowup isn't just the Demo-crats' fault.