The U.S. Department of Education is sending out a crop duster to spray a thin layer of federal largesse over 25 states and the District of Columbia in order to up the numbers of qualified special education teachers.

The $11.6 million wave of the wand is targeted at the usual suspects: urban and rural areas with teacher shortages, and certain professional specializations within special education. It calls to mind Bush's last grand initiative, announced with much fanfare in the last State of The Union address, which featured $25 million to hire 30,000 new math and science teachers--which translates into $833 per teacher.

An unfunded mandate would be preferable to this limp-wristed ribbon-cutting approach to policy, which usually only ends up funding little more than a new position in the state department of education. The Feds are falling into the same trap as states in thinking that teacher shortages can be solved with special programs--which do nothing to alleviate the significant hurdles that discourage individuals from considering a career in special education: coursework requirements run amok at ed schools that don't leave room for a single elective; ineffective preparation that succeeds only in making teachers feel like failures; the widespread lack of good clinical experiences; state licensing regulations that are all about process, not competency; and IDEA paperwork requirements that make the jobs miserable. But never mind all that. Sprinkling a couple bucks may buy a few votes.