Obama has proposed increased spending towards education despite cutting budgets almost everywhere else. Most notably, his administration is planning to overhaul the last administration’s infamous No Child Left Behind law.

But with the new funds that Obama is pumping into the education system comes more regulation. This means no more free money for failing schools; if schools want higher funding, they’ll have to earn it. A proposed change in federal financing formulas will result in the government doling out cash to schools based on academic progress rather than school size or location.

As for “No Child Left Behind,” the Obama administration pushed to eliminate the 2014 deadline for bringing every American child to academic proficiency and instilled a new goal: To make sure that all students leave high school ready for college or a career and for America to once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the the world by 2020.

Key proposals:

- Increase education spending by $3.5 billion (7.5%) in 2011
- $950 million competitive grant program for teacher recruitment and retention
- Make federal education spending more competitive, i.e. Race to the Top
- Push states to adopt tougher academic standards, with emphasis on math and science
- Make sure disadvantaged kids are matched with experienced teachers
- Set new standards that determine what it means to be college or career ready (currently, more than 40 states are collaborating on this)
- Eliminate a wasteful subsidy to banks that lend to college students and use that money to revitalize community colleges and make college more affordable

Above, watch Obama discuss the 2011 budget. Here, he states that “in the 21st century, there is no better anti-poverty program than a world class education.” Do you agree?