Presidential Foreign Policy Debate Touches On Teacher Hiring

The Huffington Post (10/23, Resmovits) reports, "Much to the chagrin of moderator Bob Schieffer, Monday night's presidential debate took a decidedly domestic turn," when President Obama "took the opportunity to lace into Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney on teacher hiring" and its impact on the economy. "This dispute dates back to the last few months. The Republican presidential candidate mocked Obama in June for proposing the hiring of more public sector employees." A brief Washington Post (10/22, Matthews) blog posting on the debate notes that "Obama attacked Romney for his comments dismissing the importance of small class sizes. And there's some grounds for that – Raj Chetty has found that students in small kindergarten classes make hundreds of thousands more in their lifetimes than students in larger classes. But it's worth noting that the Obama administration has diminished the role of class size too, with Arne Duncan stating, 'Class size has been a sacred cow and I think we need to take it on.'"