An Education In Common Sense
An Education In Common Sense
Very quietly, a national revolt may be brewing over President Bush’s refusal to fully fund his signature education initiative, the No Child Left Behind Act. Today, the Washington Post reports the nation’s largest teachers’ union, the National Education Association, joined school districts in Michigan, Texas and Vermont in filing a federal lawsuit against the Department of Education for failing to provide adequate funding for the No Child Left Behind initiative.
That news comes just one day after the ultra conservative Utah State Legislature passed a measure giving state education standards priority over federal ones imposed by the No Child Left Behind Act. Legislators from both houses voted in favor of the law despite warnings from Education Secretary Margaret Spellings “that they ran the risk of losing $76 million in federal funding.” “I’d just as soon they take the stinking money and go back to Washington with it,” said Republican house member Steve Mascaro.
These are far from isolated problems. While the Bush administration meekly repeats the claim it has raised funding for education, a study completed in March by the Center on Education Policy found “only 11 states felt NCLB allocations were adequate for them to provide technical assistance to all schools identified for improvement”:
Around 80 percent of local districts surveyed, said they had costs associated with implementing NCLB that were not covered by federal funds, such as the costs of training teachers to meet NCLB qualifications, providing remedial services to students performing below grade level, and carrying out mandatory data collection and analysis.
New Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has been promoting a new, “common sense” approach to No Child Left Behind. But the only “common sense” the states appear to be interested in is proper funding for the new requirements that the law has thrust upon them.
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If Bush policies don’t play well in Utah, they won’t play well anywhere.
April 20th, 2005 at 7:42 pmEducation Funding
April 20th, 2005 at 9:39 pmThe states are losing patience with the lack of funding for No Child Left Behind.
I hate the supply siders and their stupid tax cuts.
April 21st, 2005 at 3:20 amEducation funding and regulation is mentioned nowhere in the Constitution. Therefore, education funding and regulation should be handled by the states. Therefore #2, the Department of Education should be phased out and closed ASAP. That’s a $64 billion reduction of the 2005 budget deficit.
April 21st, 2005 at 9:36 amHis plans do not work anywhere. I am a senior in MN high school and my school is one of the schools that has a “child left behind” They just took the test to check if our school is doing okay. This program needs funding and everyone knows it. “Do more with less! Thats the key” note the beautiful sarcasm…
April 21st, 2005 at 9:41 amTony, in his weird and drooling troll way, just told us the raw truth here. NCLB was designed to fail, in just this way, in order to force the states to take precisely this kind of step.
It’s exactly the same bamboozle they’re running with Social Security. The wingers want to get the federal government out of the education business, because individual state school systems are a lot easier to influence and co-opt when they don’t have federal backing (and federal standards to meet). Once the feds are out of the ed biz, they’ll have no problem advancing their agenda state-by-state. Voucher systems? Fake science? Prayer? Who’s gonna stop ‘em? Hell, they might even be able to re-segregate the schools, if they can get enough of those black-robed tyrants out of the way.
April 21st, 2005 at 12:51 pmGone At Last:
April 21st, 2005 at 12:55 pmYes, the agenda of freedom would indeed spread. Too bad for socialists.
Not only is No Child Left Behind unfunded, but it puts districts increasingly at risk of State and Federal takeover from local control, due to escalating testing requirements and penalties.
No Child Left Behind now makes it more likely for State and Federal takeovers of local school districts — even when students do very well on more meaningful national tests and college exams.
The newest NCLB rules require districts to test higher and higher numbers of students in every category (disabled, minority, etc), or face takeover. If a student refuses to be tested, they get scored BELOW the average score for children with mental disabilities, and that is averaged into the district’s NCLB scores. In California, Cupertino (which has the 16th highest scores of any district in the state) faced the possibility of takeover because 94% (ie, fewer than 95%) of students with disabilities were tested.
April 21st, 2005 at 2:41 pmI stand corrected, MS. But the scenario you point to is even more venal: the federal government gains total control of a state’s school system — without having to pay anything (in essence) to maintain it.
Revolutions — including that one in 1776 — have been fought over less.
But, when it comes to the states that are refusing NCLB funding, I’m still not convinced that the Bushies are sorry to see them go.
April 21st, 2005 at 5:58 pmAs a special educator for children with significant cognitive delays, I can tell you that NCLB is a farce. I applaud Utah for standing up for what is in the best interest of the children.
April 22nd, 2005 at 9:35 amTony is mentioned nowhere in the Constitution. Therefore his funding and regulation should be handled by his mother. Therefore #2, he should be phased out and closed ASAP. That’s a 64% reduction of excessively misguided wordage out of this topic.
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