Arne Duncan's back in the mix, pushing school vouchers and praising Republicans for their school reform efforts.
Is he fronting for a Rahm Emanuel run for president in '28?
The uncomfortable truth is that most of the states showing the strongest student gains are Republican-led. — Arne Duncan
Former Sec of Education Arne Duncan’s Washington Post op-ed signals a not-so-surprising shift: he’s warming to school vouchers and praising Republican-led education school-choice reforms. Co-authored with Jorge Elorza, the former mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, and the former CEO of the hedge fund charter school group Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), the op-ed calls for a revival of worn-out, failed neo-liberal school reform.
Their collaboration underscores a strategic pivot: two prominent Democrats publicly supporting a school voucher program, which has long been associated with right-wing agendas. What they call a “no-brainer” solution for our “education depression” includes more time on task, combined with the federal tax credit scholarship program, passed as part of what Duncan still refers to as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. No Democrat calls it that after it was voted against by every Democrat in the House.
It’s basically Rahm Emanuel’s old voucher (“scholarship”) program, which he and Cardinal Cupich introduced in Chicago in 2017 when Rahm was mayor. Millions in scholarship money were funneled to the Archdiocese. None went to CPS schools.
The Illinois legislature allowed the program to expire in 2023, citing concerns over equity, transparency, and public school funding.
Duncan went on to use his term as Obama’s ed secretary to promote standardized testing madness, including the closing of hundreds of schools in Black and Latino communities and the firing of thousands of public school teachers based on student test scores, all under the slogan of Race To The Top.
Duncan is by no means a MAGA, quite the opposite. He never misses an opportunity to slam Trump’s school funding cuts and his plan to eliminate the Department of Education. Good on him.
However, his recent op-ed credits Republican lawmakers for driving so-called school-choice-driven education reforms. His praise comes amid renewed GOP efforts to expand voucher programs nationally, including a recent $4 billion proposal that was blocked in the Senate for procedural reasons.
So, why has Duncan reemerged in the media this week, touting centrist Democrat Emanuel’s old, discredited education reforms? Could it be he’s testing the waters for old pal Rahm’s run for president in ‘28? Remember, Duncan served as CEO of Chicago Public Schools under Mayor Richard M. Daley, then joined Obama’s cabinet as Education Secretary, a trajectory that Rahm helped shape. His credibility among liberals gives cover to a centrist platform. If Rahm were testing the waters for 2028, this op-ed could be a trial balloon, gauging the appetite for a post-partisan education agenda.
Rahm, considering his former and likely current reputation, never saw a con he would unlikely resist. Obama gave a pass on banker criminality and, true to centrist sentiment, giving the nod to Duncan to head the DOE bc Chicago politics has lots of skeletons.