I was trying to find out a bit more about Mitt Romney’s education policies since in both debates he seemed to come across as very pro-education. What I’ve found didn’t seem very consistent with his statements in the debates.

In both debates he indicated that he thought education was important and would not cut education funding. In the first debate, he mentions Massachusetts schools being #1 in the country and seemed to be talking about K-12 education. In the second debate, his answer to the college student promised a growth in Pell grants and a loan program. It was unclear whether he was promising a new program or continuation or the existing program. But he seemed to support higher education.

According to Valerie Strauss an education writer for the Washington Post, Massachusetts schools may have been #1 in some ranking but not the one usually used. Furthermore, while Massachusetts schools were once excellent, they declined while Romney was governor (but are still very good). And Romney supports the budget of his running mate which included big cuts for education.

Will the real Mitt Romney please stand up?

I also noticed that his website includes a group called Educators for Romney. That section seems to be a blog with 2 entries. A general comment on the debate by an advisor. And an entry on education by Rod Paige a former Secretary of Education. They may want to beef-up this section of the website.

Those of us who remember the George W. Bush years, remember Rod Paige as Bush’s secretary of education. We were told he was the Houston School Superintendent who greatly reduced the dropout rate. It turned out out that this outstanding feat was the result of cooking the books. But perhaps his greatest claim to fame is calling National Education Association a “terrorist organization” . He later claimed it was a bad joke, but clearly this is not a man who would get on well with the millions of teachers in the NEA.

This got me curious about his other education advisors. Turns out that many were advisors to President George W. Bush .