As Governor of the United States, Bill Clinton does not lack for education ideas, and once in a while he hits on a decent one such as charter schools, or standards and tests. All, of course, are shrewdly calculated to appeal to parents and educators. Last year's prime specimen was the White House's move to lavish new grants and tax breaks on students who had already managed to enroll in college without Uncle Sam's help. It's quintessential Clinton, a warm Labrador puppy of a policy notion, petted by teachers and parents alike while it's young, but destined to bite when it grows up-and to tug states and communities to regulatory fireplugs of its own choosing.
Smaller classes are a pollster's delight.
The idea invariably wins plaudits from voters. Indeed, it's so popular this year that New York GOP Congressman Bill Paxon beat the White House to the punch with his own proposal for Uncle Sam to underwrite new classroom cadres. And many states and communities have jumped the gun. Indiana shrank its primary classes more than a decade ago. California's Pete Wilson was hailed when he said the state's surplus should be used for this purpose.