EdCircuit Staff 
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From POLITICO
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush offered a sweeping school choice-centric education plan Monday with proposals that would allow parents to spend government dollars on the pre-K program of their choice and give college students a $50,000 line of credit to pay tuition.
Bush unveiled his plan on Martin Luther King Jr. Day as he fights to stay relevant in a GOP race dominated by Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, invoking education as a civil rights issue. His plan also includes allowing federal dollars for schools with many low-income students to follow a child to a new school and doubling federal support for charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately run. His campaign said the plan is budget neutral, and it would cut the federal Education Department by 50 percent, but much of what he wants would likely require congressional approval.
Read more from Kimberly Hefling’s post on POLITICO
Twittersphere
Tweets about Jeb Bush Education plan
Top Tweet
This new education plan is from @JebBush but it has some items that would make @BarackObama smile https://t.co/rITrqMOpdI
— Politics K-12 (@PoliticsK12) January 19, 2016
Editorial
Ahh to be in politics. Great theater continues in the run up to the Presidential election in November. This time former Republican Governor of Florida Jeb Bush is making headlines with his newly unveiled education plan calling it a civil rights issue. The good news, for those who work in education, is that finally our topic diverts the national lights away from the daily dose of Trump vs. _____. The question, ultimately, is whether or not Bush waited too long to unveil his plan. Politics aside, our education system is in dire need of a check-up. The results will probably be predictably scary (see Detroit’s mess as exhibit A). Is an education plan built on choice, federal government investment and departmental purging enough to tip the scales for vote to swing?
