U.S. presidential candidate wants $18 billion more for education

Barack Obama proposed an $18 billion increase in federal education programs Tuesday, November 21, 2007, accusing Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards of shortchanging public schools. The Illinois senator outlined a broad agenda to expand early childhood education, reduce high school dropout rates and improve substandard schools in impoverished areas. To pay for his proposals, Obama suggested cutting spending on the Iraq war, delaying sending astronauts to the moon by five years, auctioning surplus federal property and closing a tax loophole for chief executives, among other things. He lauded the No Child Left Behind law for its goal of lifting achievement standards, but he said the government had failed to give schools enough money to meet mandates for improvement. Read the article in The Los Angeles Times.