Bush Sheds Some Baggage

President Bush is gradually shedding some ideological baggage that would have weighed him down in any attempt to help American schools improve. President Reagan wanted to give parents vouchers to help pay for public, private or parochial school educations, and President Bush pledged during his campaign to give such tax credits. Now he wisely says the government can’t afford them.

The government can’t afford them financially, or philosophically. Financially, because the federal budget is already tight and should not be subsidizing private school education. And philosophically, because public education is the cornerstone of opportunity in this land. It must have the fullest federal support. Giving tuition tax credits would have hedged that support.

Bush revealed his change of heart last week while talking to high school students visiting the White House. He said he had been intrigued with the idea of tuition tax credits but decided that federal budget problems make it unworkable. So in addition to a tour, these students learned that even Presidents can admit when they’ve had a bad idea.

There is still a federal role in education, of course. It’s partly financial: The government should increase the funds available for the successful Head Start preschool programs, for other education aid in impoverished neighborhoods and for innovative pilot programs. And it’s partly philosophical: The President of the United States should be the nation’s biggest booster of public education. Bush has lightened his load and can move more freely toward that goal now.