The Republican wave carries governors, legislatures, superintendents
Blog by Sean Cavanagh/Education Week
One day after the 2010 election, this much is clear: Republicans have made sweeping gains in races for state elected offices, from which they'll be able dictate a lot of school policy for the next couple years. But gauging the implications of the GOP surge for education is no easy task. Many GOP candidates for governor and state schools' chief, for instance, were critical of their Democratic opponents' ideas for education. Victorious John Kasich, in Ohio, said incumbent Ted Strickland's education agenda was expensive and unwieldy, and promised to scrap it. Another winner, Terry Branstad of Iowa, was no fan of Democratic Gov. Chet Culver's voluntary preschool program, and said he wanted to replace it with more targeted aid to needy children. In some cases, candidates took pretty overt stances against federal spending (even if it helped prop up their state budgets). (more…)