Bush and Gore: Who's The Education President?

The second half of Gore's plan, reconstitution, has been called the neutron bomb of school reform, and most states, including North Carolina, have been too skittish to try it. The only real success stories have come in New York City, which has "redesigned" about 65 schools in the past five years. One example: three years ago, the Bronx's P.S. 3 ranked 672nd among New York City schools--fourth from the bottom. The city fired the principal, replaced two-thirds of the teachers, extended the school day and switched from a touchy-feely "real life" curriculum to one emphasizing basic instruction in reading and math. In one year, math scores on the state exam jumped 15% and reading scores 8.5%.

But such radical change is difficult to pull off. Unions fight layoffs. And it isn't easy to find good replacements. Maryland almost lost its battle to take over three Baltimore schools last year (out of 81 deemed to be failing) because of community uproar and a teachers' union lawsuit. In 1997 Denver restaffed two elementary schools, but test scores have barely changed.

These mixed results, however, are unlikely to quell the public demand for reform. No matter who wins, our new Superintendent in Chief will use that 7% of education dollars for as much leverage as he can get.

--With reporting by Paul Cuadros/Pensacola and Desa Philadelphia/New York