I spent Monday and Tuesday this week at the National School Board Association’s Federal Relations Network Conference.   School board members from around the country came for briefings and “how to” sessions before spending Tuesday on Capitol Hill meeting with their senators and representatives.  We heard from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan who talked about the need to invest in education if we are to not fall behind economically.  He also talked about the proper role of the federal government in education policy: to set the standards for success, not the prescription for success.  One of the interesting ideas they have is to bypass states in some of their funding and directly give support to school divisions.  That could be a good thing in states that do not support their public schools well.  Here in Virginia, I have very real concerns about the push for charter schools.  Yes, I’m well aware the President and Secty Duncan support charter schools.  Charter schools can be helpful when you have totally dysfunctional school systems.  But when things are working well, and there is choice for parents, and there are relatively high standards, as is the case in most Virginia districts….....charter schools could wreak havoc with what is working well and do nothing to move education forward.   My fear is that in an effort to cut spending and to not raise taxes no matter what AND to appear to be an “education governor”,  the “solution” may be legislation to take charter school approval away from school boards and put it in the hands of those who think any charter school has to be good.  Money has to come from somewhere, and it almost certainly would come from our schools.

At the conference, it was a pleasure to spend time with other school board members and our legislators and their staff:  all intelligent, well-meaning people trying to help make government work better for everyone.  Hearing about the difficulty of getting almost anything done in the current political environment was not so pleasant.

I found myself walking to Union Station from the Library of Congress Tuesday evening in the snow.  I was alone and the area behind the Capitol was almost deserted.  The Capitol and the Supreme Court were lit with a warm light and the snow swirled gently as it fell. I stopped to look and thought of all the history in those buildings and the centuries now of Americans trying to make our government work well for everyone.  It was a magical moment.  I said a silent prayer for our nation feeling lucky to be, for a short time, a very small part of a very great effort.