Well, we won – sort of. Several weeks ago, we said that Senator Jay Rockefeller would be reintroducing the 21st Century Skills Incentive Fund Act. With co-sponsors Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and John Kerry (D-MA), Rockefeller has made it official. The new and improved 21st Century Skills Incentive Fund Act drops any direct references to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. The previous legislation made P21 the gatekeeper of hundreds of millions in federal funds. But we fear P21′s hand remains here, despite the omission of their name. For example, the one-sentence description of the bill reads: “To create a new incentive fund that will encourage states to adopt the 21st Century Skills Framework.” Well, the only such framework we’re aware of is authored by P21. So the original purpose of the bill remains: To promote 21st century skills, P21-style. If there were any doubt, Rockefeller erased it in his floor statement, during which he listed all of the P21 member states and – of course – heaped praise on West Virginia for their embrace of P21′s framework. So we’re still talking about pledging a half-billion (yes that was a “b”) in taxpayer funds, along with tax breaks to business, to import 21st century skills into classrooms nationwide. Undoubtedly with the well-paid help and guidance of P21. Gee, the more I write about this the less it strikes me as a win. Tell us what you think. And watch this space for updates on the bill if it manages to make its way out of committee. One final thought: Why don’t good ideas get this kind of support?
Lynne Munson
Interestingly, Rockefeller’s bill was not referred to the Senate HELP Committee, which has the primary jurisdiction for education legislation, but to the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by centrist Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT).
Also interesting is the co-sponsorship by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), who I recall joined with a handful of other centrist Senators, including Susan Collins (R-ME) and Ben Nelson (D-NE) in stripping nearly $14 billion in funds for school construction from the final stimulus bill, citing their opposition to any major new federal education funding programs.