It鈥檚 become a familiar sight for education policy mavens this election season: panel discussions, in Washington and elsewhere, hashing out the presumptive presidential nominees鈥� differences on performance pay for teachers, private school vouchers, and other reliable topics of debate.
But the candidates themselves haven鈥檛 appeared at these events鈥攊t鈥檚 been their surrogates, experts who are helping to craft education plans for Sen. John McCain or Sen. Barack Obama.
Such advisers, whether paid staff members or volunteers, help send signals on the policy directions their candidates would pursue if elected to the White House.
And successful candidates often tap campaign aides to serve in their administrations. U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings was a key member of President Bush鈥檚 education team during his 2000 campaign. She worked as White House domestic-policy adviser in Mr. Bush鈥檚 first term before moving into her Cabinet post for his second.
鈥淚 think advisers matter, especially in this environment, where neither candidate is going to have a lot of time or a lot interest in getting into the details on education,鈥� said Michael J. Petrilli, a vice president of the , a Washington think tank, who was a political appointee in the Department of Education during Mr. Bush鈥檚 first term.
鈥淲ho a candidate surrounds himself with 鈥� can be a very good window鈥� on which policies he鈥檚 likely to pursue, Mr. Petrilli said.
Two Camps?
But Andrew J. Rotherham, a co-director of , another Washington research organization, who is independently working with the campaign of Sen. Obama, cautioned that while advisers can make recommendations, it is ultimately senior campaign officials鈥攁nd the candidate鈥攚ho develop proposals.
鈥淚t鈥檚 brainstorming and advice-giving. The role of advisers is often overstated,鈥� said Mr. Rotherham, who advised Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York in her bid for the Democratic nomination this year.
Lisa Graham Keegan, a former state superintendent in Sen. McCain鈥檚 home state, Arizona, has been the presumptive Republican standard-bearer鈥檚 most visible surrogate on education issues.
Observers say much of Mr. McCain鈥檚 education platform鈥攚hich includes expanding private school vouchers that could be used at religious schools, promoting online education as a way of broadening school choice, and allowing principals to determine which teachers in their schools would be eligible for performance-based bonus pay鈥攔eflects policies that Ms. Keegan advocated both as a state schools chief and as the chief executive officer of the Education Leaders Council, a coalition of conservative-leaning education officials.
Photograph by Ben Margot/AP - File
Christopher F. Edley鈥擠ean of the University of California, Berkeley, law school since 2004. He served as a special counsel to President Clinton, working on affirmative action issues, and was a member of the Aspen Institute鈥檚 Commission on No Child Left Behind, which issued 75 recommendations for overhauling the federal education law. Those included tying teacher quality to student-achievement data and calling on the National Assessement Governing Board to craft voluntary national standards and tests.
Mike Johnston鈥擳he principal of the Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts in Thornton, Colo., and a co-founder of New Leaders for New Schools. Sen. Obama visited the school in May to deliver a major speech on education policy.
Jon Schnur鈥擟hief executive and co-founder in 2000 of New Leaders for New Schools, a New York Citybased nonprofit group that trains educators to serve as principals of struggling schools in high-need districts. He served as an education adviser to Vice President Al Gore鈥檚 2000 presidential campaign.
Linda Darling-Hammond鈥擜n education professor at Stanford University who has focused on leadership training and teacherquality issues. She is an advocate for teacher residencies, which combine education courses with beefed-up field experiences.
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Sen. Obama, the Illinois Democrat who is set to formally become his party鈥檚 nominee later this month, has assembled a team of education advisers with a broad range of views, and has sent a variety of surrogates to debates and other events.
The diversity of perspectives among his advisers makes it hard to gauge how an Obama administration would address such thorny matters as the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, some observers say.
鈥淚n Obama鈥檚 campaign, what we see is an inclusive and big-tent approach,鈥� said Dianne M. Pich茅, the executive director of the , a Washington-based watchdog group. 鈥淗e鈥檚 got advisers who are unrepentant cheerleaders for NCLB; he鈥檚 got advisers who are concerned about NCLB.鈥�
Mr. Obama鈥檚 education advisers can be divided into two distinct camps, several observers said.
On one end of the spectrum are those whom Mr. Petrilli and others characterized as 鈥渇airly traditional liberal鈥� types, who have made their mark in areas such as educational equity and civil rights. They include Linda Darling-Hammond, a professor of education at Stanford University, who has done extensive research on teacher quality, and Christopher F. Edley, the dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley, who worked on affirmative action issues in President Bill Clinton鈥檚 administration.
And then, Mr. Petrilli said, there is a 鈥測ounger, thirtysomething crowd of school reformers,鈥� including Jon Schnur and Michael Johnston, who co-founded , a New York City-based nonprofit that trains principals to serve in struggling schools, as well as Mr. Rotherham, who served as an education aide to President Clinton.
Uniting Democrats?
That contingent is more closely identified with the rise of charter schools and proposals to redesign the education system.
The makeup of the Obama team 鈥渟uggests two very different ways of thinking about the challenges [facing schools] and tackling them,鈥� said Frederick M. Hess, the director of education policy studies at the , a Washington think tank that espouses free-market-based policy approaches. 鈥淔or me, it鈥檚 hard to know exactly which way his administration would lean.鈥�
Joe Williams, the executive director of , a New York City-based political action committee that supports Democratic candidates for local, state, and federal office, who has been in contact with some of Sen. Obama鈥檚 advisers, said that even those working within the campaign aren鈥檛 certain which of the two factions would be likely to dominate in an Obama administration.
Mr. Rotherham said the senator is considering all points of view, and then using the information to reach his own conclusions.
鈥淥bama sort of draws on a bunch of sources and puts them into coherent鈥� proposals, Mr. Rotherham said. 鈥淗e follows a more independent path ... and isn鈥檛 especially beholden to any particular ideological viewpoint or constituency, which allows him to think through the issues like an adult.鈥�
John I. Wilson, the executive director of the 3.2 million-member , which has endorsed Sen. Obama for president, praised his choice of advisers, particularly Ms. Darling-Hammond and Mr. Edley, as well as Inez Tenenbaum, a former state schools chief in South Carolina.
鈥淚 think he鈥檚 tried to surround himself with people who will bring him solid research and scholarly advice,鈥� Mr. Wilson said, even if they aren鈥檛 always in agreement with the teachers鈥� union.
Some Democrats hope that Sen. Obama鈥檚 education team may be positioned to help address the polarization that the NCLB law has caused among Democrats in Congress. Although the law was passed with big, bipartisan majorities in 2001, its accountability rules are controversial, and many Democrats contend it鈥檚 underfunded.
鈥淚 actually believe that the differences can be bridged with the right leadership and the right spirit of cooperation, 鈥� but the campaign is not quite there yet,鈥� Ms. Pich茅 said.
Arizona Connection
In Sen. McCain鈥檚 campaign, Ms. Keegan and F. Philip Handy, who chaired the Florida state board of education during Jeb Bush鈥檚 tenure as that state鈥檚 governor, are the top advisers on education, said Nancy Pfotenhauer, a senior policy adviser for the McCain campaign.
Photograph by Steve Cannon/AP - File
F. Philip Handy鈥擲erved as chairman of the Florida state board of education from 2001 to 2007. He supported the state鈥檚 performance-pay program and helped champion changes leading to a more seamless, K-20 education system.
Lisa Graham Keegan鈥擜s Arizona鈥檚 superintendent of public instruction from 1995 to 2001, she was an outspoken proponent of school choice, tough academic standards, and state testing. Later, she was chief executive officer of the Education Leaders Council, a coalition of conservative-leaning education officials. She also advised Sen. McCain鈥檚 2000 presidential campaign.
Jane Swift鈥擜s acting governor of Massachusetts from 2001 to 2003, she supported rigorous standards and high-stakes tests. She later served as a partner in Arcadia Partners, a venture-capital firm that invests in for-profit educational companies.
Virginia Walden-Ford鈥擜s the executive director of D.C. Parents for School Choice, she has helped advocate for the federally funded voucher program that allows parents in the nation鈥檚 capital to send their children to private schools, including religious schools.
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Mr. Handy remains closely associated with Gov. Bush鈥檚 education agenda in Florida, which included vouchers, performance-based teacher pay, and a system for grading schools according to their students鈥� performance on state tests.
Ms. Keegan has worked with Sen. McCain since her days as Arizona鈥檚 superintendent of public instruction, a position she held from 1995 to 2001, and also advised him during his 2000 bid for the presidency.
She has appeared on behalf of the campaign at a variety of events in and outside of Washington in recent months. During a forum on education and the campaign last month at the , a think tank in Washington, Ms. Keegan said that a group of about 15 McCain advisers initially reviews education proposals. The ideas are then vetted by a broader group of about 80 educators and other experts nationwide.
Mr. Wilson of the nea said that it is the union鈥檚 sense that Sen. McCain, whom he described as having been 鈥渁wol on education most of his Senate career,鈥� is relying almost solely on Ms. Keegan to craft his education policy.
Mr. Wilson said that if Sen. McCain were elected and tapped Ms. Keegan for a major position in the Education Department, the union would likely oppose her confirmation. He cited allegations of financial mismanagement during Ms. Keegan鈥檚 tenure at the helm of the Education Leaders Council.
Ms. Keegan left that position in 2004. An Education Department audit, released in January 2006, revealed that the organization 鈥渄rew down and expended federal funds it was not entitled to.鈥� In the 2003 fiscal year, it said, the elc overdrew its grant by $495,326, which the report blamed on inadequate controls within the organization. (鈥淎udit Faults Spending by Leaders Council,鈥� Feb. 15 and 鈥淪chools on Their Own With 鈥楩ollowing the Leaders鈥� Work,鈥� April 12, 2006.)
Some of the items questioned in the federal audit involved Ms. Keegan, such as charges for a conference at a Wyoming resort that appeared to be unrelated to the purposes of the grant.
Ms. Keegan said in an interview late last week that the audit 鈥渨as blown out of proportion.鈥�
鈥淚t was a very small audit issue. It wasn鈥檛 mismanagement,鈥� Ms. Keegan said. 鈥淚t was a learning experience, for sure.鈥�
She said the Education Department last year settled the audit and paid grant money to the group, which is now called Following the Leaders.
Ms. Pich茅 of the Citizens鈥� Commission on Civil Rights had praise for Ms. Keegan.
鈥淟isa is smart, she鈥檚 personable, she鈥檚 effective, she鈥檚 a great spokesperson for鈥� Sen. McCain, she said. 鈥淚n that sense, he鈥檚 picked a good adviser.鈥�
