County Durham does have one scheme which suggests that education can work in steering teenagers away from drugs.

ECONOMIST: Rural daze

The notion of Mr Bush now steering through anything with the scope of his tax cut or his education bill seems remote.

ECONOMIST: The travails of George Bush

But critics of the bill passed Friday are concerned that it will quash the lending industry by steering colleges in the direction of Direct Loans administered by the Department of Education instead of federally guaranteed loans, which account for about 80% federal student loans.

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