From Martin Levine at Nonprofit Quarterly:
Across the political spectrum, there is agreement that our public schools are not meeting their responsibility to our children’s futures. Spanning the Bush and Obama presidencies, a common thread has been the setting of a national imperative to improve public education. In his first inaugural address, President Bush shared his view of our public education system: “The ambitions of some Americans are limited by failing schools.” President Obama began the last year of his presidency saying that the nation still needed to “restore the promise of America’s public education, and ensure that American children again lead the world in achievement, creativity and success.” Policymakers in both administrations and mega-philanthropists like Bill Gates and the Walton family shared a common narrative of the reasons our public schools were failing, which shaped educational policy.