Today marks the traditional day that students return to school … enjoy today, because there could be Big Changes next year.

There has been a lot written that November’s election will be about the future of Medicare, yet not enough attention has been given to other federal spending.

Ezra Klein writes an interesting piece on wannabe CFO-in-Chief Mitt Romney and his promises to cut federal spending by more than $500 billion in 2016, and in fact to balance the budget by the end of his second term …
Does anyone really believe that he will take office and cut education by 40 percent?
This is simply not a credible budget plan, and Romney’s fast retreat from Ryan’s most unpopular cuts makes it even less credible.

OK, so maybe Romney won’t cut education by 40 percent but instead go with Paul Ryan’s numbers … from the Chairman’s Mark of the FY2013 Ryan plan (page 69), Education (which is combined with Training, Employment and Social Services) gets a cut from President Obama’s proposal (page 25), the Ryan number for FY2013 is a Budget Authority of $57,626 million versus Obama’s request of $93,848 million … okay, that’s a lot of cuts … of course, Ryan’s budget is pretty vague by category while Obama’s is specific, but the impact is significant.

So what do we get for this ?
A dumber America filled with an unprepared workforce whose workers will experience a much lower quality of life and little hope for advancement … and a loss as the world’s economic leader.

It’s pretty simple … President Obama constantly speaks out in his belief that the future of the country cannot be improved without deeper investments in education combined with educational reform … versus Romney and Ryan who endorse massive slashes to education budgets.

Compare America under Romney/Ryan to the growing world economies … China, India, Brazil, and Turkey, which are making massive investments in educating their youth, training their middle-aged work forces, and supporting science and technology advancements.

Chairman John Kline (R-MN-02) of the Education and Workforce Committee should be screaming about this … but he not only voted for the Ryan Budget but his website contains praises of “A Fact Based Budget For America’s Future” and never mentions EDUCATION.

But that’s what Minnesotans have come to expect from Chairman Kline … a Washington insider that follows Party Manager’s orders … and bases his campaign strategy on not informing the public what the future holds.

But this November, there will not only be the choice of Obama -vs.- Romney/Ryan on Education but also who will represent the Second District — Chairman Kline or Mike Obermueller.

Mike Obermueller does not have the pedigree of a Heritage Foundation fellow.
Growing up on a small family-run dairy farm, Mike knows the importance of hard work and what it takes to be successful.
Mike’s mother taught in an elementary school for more than 40 years and instilled the value of a strong education in each of her six adopted children.
Mike worked his way through college and law school, much of the time at a college dining facility and catering operation.

Mike recognizes that America has budget challenges and this need to be met through a multi-pronged approach. Mike wants to end the programs that are not working … something that President Obama has also called for … but Chairman Kline has failed to enact the necessary legislation despite issuing press releases calling for them to end.
Mike says, “Education is crucial to the long term sustainability of the American economy. Right now America is 25th in math scores and 21st in science. This is unacceptable if we want America to continue to lead in an ever-competitive world economy. We need to be teaching our students how to be the next generation of innovators and job-creators—not how to memorize answers to a standardized test.”
Meanwhile Chairman Kline has just left reforming Education to sit for the Republican Party Managers to tell him when to proceed.

Yes, this election will be create BIG CHANGES for Education … either Romney/Ryan/Kline get their cuts (which assures a dumber future for the nation) or the Second District gets a Congressman who will work with a President committed on the premise that “In a global economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity – it is a pre-requisite.” (BARACK OBAMA, Address to Joint Session of Congress, Feb. 24, 2009)