BEST FUNDING GOES DIRECTLY TO CLASSROOM

In the first five years of his new program, Ashcroft said, Missouri classrooms would see federal funding increase from $840 million in fiscal 2005, under current law, to $1.12 billion when the new proposal is added.

Well, maybe. One supposes that Sen. Ashcroft, under pressure to win this election by appealing to moderate "swing" voters, has determined that such appeals are needed in the last month before an election. If the money is to come without strings attached, and go straight to the classroom, bypassing bureaucracy, perhaps it would even be a good thing. These features are part of the Ashcroft proposal.

Somehow, though, we wish taxpayers would get the money back in tax cuts so that Missouri families could decide what to do with their own cash. In the meantime, we are seeing lots of these proposals. The good news is that if Ashcroft is re-elected and is joined by a President George W. Bush, we will be seeing those long-awaited tax cuts.