Candidates Agree: Feds Should (Mostly) Exit From Education

The four Republican candidates for president agreed on one thing at the CNN debate in Arizona on Wednesday night — the federal government should butt out of education policy. How much varied, with Santorum saying his vote for No Child Left Behind (President Bush’s legislation that expanded the the federal role in education) was a mistake and that he’d never let something like that happen again, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney supporting school voice (vouchers), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich playing up charter schools, and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) went the farthest: “The Constitution is very clear. There’s no authority for the federal government to be involved in education.”