Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) has had a strong hand in shaping education policy throughout his career, and his recent election as House majority leader may have a large effect in shaping the education agenda of the Republican caucus.

As chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce since 2001, Boehner has played a major role in shaping higher education issues. Over the past five years he has developed a reputation for reforming the earmark process, in which funds are appropriated to specific projects and constituents, including colleges, in the legislative process.

“Mr. Boehner supports adding greater transparency to and establishing clear standards in the earmarking process, such as ensuring earmarks meet the specific purpose of the authorizing statue,” said Steve Forde, spokesman for the education committee.

Boehner, however, still has links to various lobbyists, including independent colleges and trade schools, that could challenge his image as a reformer. Sallie Mae, the largest student loan company in the country, has been one of Boehner’s largest campaign donors.

According to records from the Federal Election Commission, the officers of Sallie Mae gave Boehner $52,670 through Political Action Committees, which provide corporations the opportunity to donate to candidates. Combined with individual contributions from the company’s officers, the firm provided approximately $250,000 during 2003 and 2004.

Boehner has generally supported guaranteed-loan programs, which allow private companies such as Sallie Mae to distribute federal loans to students, rather than direct-lending programs, in which the government directly distributes grants and loans to students.

Boehner voted in favor of the Deficit Reduction Act, a budget bill approved by the House last Wednesday that promotes guaranteed-loan programs over direct-lending programs.

Forde said that political contributions from loan companies have not influenced Boehner’s support for guaranteed-loan programs.

“Mr. Boehner supports whoever can deliver the best results for American taxpayers,” Forde said. “He has always believed that putting the government in charge of all student loans is something that would be a disaster for taxpayers.”

Jasmine Harris, legislative director at the United States Student Association, the nation’s largest and oldest student advocacy group, said that although guaranteed-loan programs provide the same size loans to students as direct-lending programs, the costly federal subsidies associated with the private loans pose problems.

The subsidy funds “could be saved for something else,” she said. “We would like to see it invested more on the Pell Grant,” a major undergraduate aid program.

The maximum Pell Grant has been frozen at $4,050 for the last four years.

Forde said that Boehner has supported and will continue to support providing aid to help students finance their education.

“Mr. Boehner has consistently supported programs to assist students in funding their college education – from increased funds for Pell Grants, to new grants established under the Deficit Reduction Act, to increased loan limits and decreased loan fees found in that same bill,” he said. “He will continue this type of strong support in his new role.”

Boehner was elected by his Republic peers in a surprise 122-109 vote last Thursday, defeating Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who was serving as acting majority leader.