“Obama, McCain Spar on Education,” Wall Street Journal:

Following a drop in support for him in the polls among women, he called for big increases in federal school spending while vowing to “replace” bad teachers.

In his remarks, Sen. Obama played to a Democratic base that is angry over the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind testing regimen. He said he would “fix” the law so that “our kids…become more than just good test takers.”

Sen. Obama also proposed Tuesday that ineffective teachers be replaced, although he didn’t say how. That sort of tough talk about teachers, an important Democratic constituency, is “noteworthy,” said Andrew Rotherham, co-director of Education Sector, a think tank, and an informal adviser to the Obama campaign.

But some education-policy experts said Sen. Obama had missed an opportunity to show his reformist credentials, failing to challenge liberal orthodoxy on an issue that even many Democrats think needs fresh approaches. Sen. Obama has “staked out traditional positions. He’s said things the Democrats like to hear,” said scholar Tom Loveless of the Brookings Institution, which terms itself nonpartisan.

“If Elected …Obama Looks to Lessons From Chicago in His National Education Plan,” New York Times:

…Mr. Obama, the Democratic nominee for president, is campaigning on an ambitious plan that promises $18 billion a year in new federal spending on early childhood classes, teacher recruitment, performance pay and dozens of other initiatives.

In Dayton, Ohio, on Tuesday, Mr. Obama used his education proposals to draw a contrast with Senator John McCain, his Republican opponent, and to insist to voters that he, more than his rival, would change the way Washington works.

Were he to become president, Mr. Obama would retain the emphasis on the high standards and accountability of President Bush’s education law, No Child Left Behind. But he would rewrite the federal law to offer more help to high-need schools, especially by training thousands of new teachers to serve in them, his campaign said. He would also expand early childhood education, which he believes gets more bang for the buck than remedial classes for older students.

Mr. Obama added a new flourish to his stump speech, promising for the first time on Tuesday to double federal spending on public charter schools while holding those with poor records accountable.

Text of Obama Speech (Dayton Ohio, September 9, 2008)