Acting on President George W. Bush's campaign pledge of education reform, a key Senate committee yesterday unanimously approved a far-reaching bill aimed at improving schools nationwide by testing students and teachers and tying federal funding to their performance, according to Reuters. Cato Director of Education and Child Policy Darcy Olsen wrote in USA Today that although accountability is a good thing, real accountability doesn't come from politicians.
Genuine accountability can happen only when parents control educational spending.
She argues that what ails education isn't a lack of standards or testing. Postal Service Continues to Hemorrhage Moving to block massive losses as costs rise and business slips, the Postal Service is freezing hundreds of new construction and leasing projects across the country, according to the Associated Press. The announcement yesterday was accompanied by a warning from the postal governing board that universal service to every home could be in danger without changes to the laws that regulate operation. Postal officials didn't provide a dollar estimate for the savings they expect in the cutbacks, but they said more than 800 planned projects in all states will be affected. The move comes just two months after the price of first class mail went up a penny to 34 cents.