MNpublius.com

The Secretary of Education was in St. Paul today to roll out a pilot program relating to No Child Left Behind. On the surface, this is not particularly surprising. Federal officials often venture outside of Washington to roll out new programs.

But here is the problem: Minnesota isn’t eligible to participate in the pilot program.

The education secretary offered few details about the new program, but said 10 states would be allowed to come up with different penalties for different schools. Currently, if a school fails to meet benchmarks for two years in a row or more, it faces consequences such as restructuring or allowing students to transfer.

Only states with approved assessment systems that have a certain percentage of schools not making progress will be eligible.

Minnesota, however, does not meet those requirements. The federal education department has not approved Minnesota’s alternative exams for English language learners and special education students. And Minnesota does not have a high percentage of schools facing federal consequences.

So why was Spellings here? And why did Norm Coleman and Tim Pawlenty attend, but not Amy Klobuchar or Betty McCollum?

Looks to me like that White House is back up to its old tricks. You might remember that last year the Bush Administration got in trouble for holding political briefings at multiple government agencies in the run up to the 2006 elections. From the Washington Post…

White House officials conducted 20 private briefings on Republican electoral prospects in the last midterm election for senior officials in at least 15 government agencies covered by federal restrictions on partisan political activity, a White House spokesman and other administration officials said yesterday.

The previously undisclosed briefings were part of what now appears to be a regular effort in which the White House sent senior political officials to brief top appointees in government agencies on which seats Republican candidates might win or lose, and how the election outcomes could affect the success of administration policies, the officials said.

Basically, the White House was telling various agencies which Republican incumbents were in danger so that these agencies could target their districts with political goodies (like, say, pilot program roll outs).

Add to this equation the politically vulnerable Norm Coleman. Add also his weak record on education, particularly relating to No Child Left Behind; a program which he has repeatedly voted to underfund. Did some White House lackey point Spellings towards Minnesota?

It would make sense. Norm’s getting nervous. Franken is closer in the polls than anyone expected him to be. Education is a big issue in Minnesota. An education event with Secretary Spellings is a nice get for the Senator. Nevermind the fact that Minnesota isn’t eligible for the program, the important thing is the photo (and the word “education” in the headline). These are the political games that Norm is good at.

But taxpayer money paid for Spellings’ plane ride and it paid for the cost of the event too. I mean, I’m in favor of public financing for campaigns, but this is ridiculous.