Obama presses forward on early ed ("Skip Congress and spend the money anyway")

Politico ^ | August 13, 2013 | Caitlin Emma

[NotYourAverageDhimmi]

President Barack Obama has found a way to cater to his obsession with pre-K programs while the rest of his education agenda stalls: Skip Congress and spend the money anyway.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in discretionary funding for early learning are funneling into states although Congress hasn’t seriously considered paying for President Barack Obama’s universal preschool proposal. Race to the Top early learning awards and Affordable Care Act money are helping states carry out their pre-K and early childcare plans. Education Secretary Arne Duncan is traveling the country to deliver what amounts to an early childhood stump speech, and the administration just hired a new leader for its Office of Early Learning.

Congress likely won’t fund Obama’s $75 billion universal pre-K plan in the near future. Doubling the federal tobacco tax and new spending prove unpopular, even absurd options for some members of Congress. Coupled with dwindling hopes of coming to a fiscal consensus before September 30, the administration can likely expect no help on funding any time soon.

House Education and the Workforce Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) has said that “throwing more money into the nation’s education system is not the right answer to the challenges facing our classrooms.”

But Duncan’s passion is unwavering. He has repeatedly touted the long-term social and economic benefits of quality early childhood options and he remains optimistic that Congress will act on the plan, a Department of Education official said.

Some members of Congress are fully on board.

[2banana]

We are in a banana republic run by a 2 bit tyrant.

[BenLurkin]

Like “Gabriel over the white house”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3054155/posts

[Standing Wolf]

Some members of Congress are fully on board.

I'd expect no less of the looter party.

[RightGeek]

"Affordable Care Act money" - http://www.dontfundobamacare.com/

[traditional1]

Again. ALL Appropriations are created in The House, and reducing the Appropriations to the Executive Branch in like-amounts for ALL Executive Orders and Regulatory schemes that circumvent the Congress would eliminate the ability to have this Dictatorship in place.

Let the White Hut go to the USSC, and try to show the Constitutionality of these end-runs-around-Congress, OR, Selective Enforcement of LAWS such as Obamacare, and even though the Court is stacked with Leftists, the blackmailed-Roberts that made his OWN Law in Ruling Obamacare was in fact "Constitutional" would have to be Ruling, AGAIN, by fear to allow The Messiah to ignore the Congress.

[apillar]

Got to get those kiddies into the indoctrination centers earlier! Many are learning all kinds of horrible Christian and traditional moral values at home which takes along time to reprogram with secular humanism by the time they reach age five or six. /sarcasm

[txrefugee]

Children do much better in school if they are allowed to stay home the first five years of their lives. There is no benefit to early schooling, except perhaps for the free food and babysitting.

[goodwithagun]

We have no neighbor kids nor cousins close by for our kids to play with. For the first three years of his life, my son was an only child. Our daughter is almost two, and they are just now able to play together properly. Last year was my son’s first year in pre-school. I resisted so much, but after the first week it was quite apparent that he needed to be around some little kids. We chose a private pre-school that only accepts 10-12 students per grade (half day pre-school, half day pre-k, whole day kindergarten), and is run by older Italian nuns. Trust me, you don’t cross Sister Mary Rose Alba! It is no baby sitting program, and in fact the tuition and schedule make it impossible for it to be a baby sitting program. What impressed us was that the volunteer aids let the little boys wrestle and rough house to an extent. They do not allow them to be destructive or mean, but they do insist on them being boys. Anyway, this was our choice and I’m happy wit the results. Each child is different and it’s the parents who need to make the decisions and not Big Gov.

[Obadiah]

That has been soundly proven over and over again. Programs such as Head Start give kids a bump at the starting line of school, but all other kids who never attended HS catch up rapidly and soon there is no measurable difference.

Unless some kid is a savant or something early education has no overwhelming value. It’s nice. It makes the parents feel good about Jonny or Susie, but that’s about it, other than free day care.