From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Has Barack Obama split the difference on education reform?

Hello again, I'm on Alney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues issues Americans care about most.

Democrats are sharply divided

between school reformers

and so-called traditionalists.

One side wants charter schools,

merit pay, and accountability for teachers.

The other says don't blame teachers

for failing schools,

provide flexibility and better resources.

Barack Obama has chosen an education secretary

who has endorsed both sides. Will that

mean gridlock? Or will Chicago's Arnie Duncan finally overcome the tired debates that have stalled

real education reform? What about no child left behind? On reporter's notebook later on, the Pentagon

says Somali pirates are going to be paid off.

First, here's the news.

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and from the Public Radio International Program Fund,

whose contributors include the Ford Foundation,

the John D. and Catherine T. McArthur Foundation,

...