School choice a policy signal?

President-elect Barack Obama’s choice of elementary school for his two daughters will give that school bragging rights, and it could point to practical details of an education policy that on the campaign trail offered something for everybody.

Though his daughters attend a private school in Chicago, Obama has long supported charter schools, and at a September event promised to double their federal funding. He pleased teacher unions by backing bigger paychecks and accountability based on more than test scores. He even stretched to the right last February with tepid support for school vouchers.