Dear Colleagues:
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is John Schoof. I’m the new Research Associate with the Center for Education Policy. I come from the COVID-19 School Response Dashboard and COVID-19 School Data Hub, and I couldn’t be more excited to join the Heritage team. There is already so much to catch you up on.
 
In case you haven’t heard, the federal government likes to spend a lot of money. Last week, the House Committee on Education and Labor released their marked-up portion of the $3.5 trillion reconciliation package, and our Director of the Center for Education Policy, Dr. Lindsey Burke, has been busy laying down the facts about programs that will undoubtedly be egregious wastes of taxpayer dollars. She cleverly notes that “this isn’t ‘building back better.’ It’s building bureaucracy.”
 
In the Daily Signal, <[link removed]> she highlights the current administration’s hope to gain more control over early education and childcare:
 
In addition to this likely driving up the cost of preschool broadly, it’s unlikely to benefit participating children. The bulk of the scientifically rigorous evaluations of preschool programs yield consistently negative findings; namely, that any benefits fade out over time.
 
Demand for new, large-scale government spending on early-childhood education and care is also not evident. About half of 3- and 4-year-olds already attend formal pre-K programs. And half of women who are employed and have children under 18 would prefer to stay at home when their children are young.
 
In Real Clear Politics <[link removed]>, with Heritage Senior Fellow, Robert Rector, Lindsey reflects on the War on Poverty’s impact on the family and predicts that, sadly, this administration will go far beyond the Johnson administration:
 
Massive federal spending has not improved education outcomes for low-income students, nor catapulted us past our mediocre international standing. And it has only inflated the cost of college without increasing the percentage of low-income Americans who hold bachelor’s degrees.
 
…Yet the massive and ineffective education spending of the War on Poverty pales in comparison to what the Biden administration has planned. His misnamed American Families Plan would spend $225 billion on a new federal childcare program that preferences center-based care over family and in-home provider care.
  
What else we’ve been up to
 
Jonathan Butcher spoke against Critical Race Theory’s racial discrimination last week at an event hosted by the North Carolina Faith & Freedom Coalition. He was joined by The Heritage Foundation’s Katie Gorka, director of the Feulner Institute. North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson led a commission recently that released a report documenting the evidence of the use of Critical Race Theory in K-12 classrooms. To read the report, click here <[link removed]>.
Education and Religious Freedom
 
On Tuesday, we hosted an event to discuss the new book edited by our Dr. Jay Greene, Education and Religious Freedom: A Case Study of Yeshivas vs. New York. The panel of experts shared insights during an engaging conversation. In case you missed the live stream, the recording will be posted here <[link removed]> shortly.
Sincerely,
John Schoof

 
Research Associate and Project Coordinator
The Center for Education Policy

Institute for Family, Community, and Opportunity
The Heritage Foundation

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