« Frivolous lawsuits? | Main | I Could Go On (Barry Garelick) »
March 15, 2007
Conservative blowback on NCLB
The next chapter of the NCLB races has begun, with congressional Republicans introducing competing legislation, as reported in the Washington Post. There seems to have been a coordinated media campaign for this as well: Sen. Jim DeMint and Sen. John Cornyn have op-eds in NRO and Townhall, respectively. As to the WaPo account, for me this is the key graf:
Under (Rep. Peter) Hoekstra's bill, any state could essentially opt out of No Child Left Behind after one of two actions. A state could hold a referendum, or two of three elected entities -- the governor, the legislature and the state's highest elected education official -- could decide that the state would no longer abide by the strict rules on testing and the curriculum.
The Senate bill is slightly less permissive, but it would allow a state to negotiate a "charter" with the federal government to get away from the law's mandates.
In both cases, the states that opt out would still be eligible for federal funding, but those states could exempt any education program but special education from No Child Left Behind strictures.
Knock off the testing, but leave the funding in place. In other words, gut NCLB. Of course, Republicans have traditionally wanted the federal government out of education, and with Bush so vulnerable they're just venting that long-repressed frustration:
"Republicans voted for No Child Left Behind holding their noses," said Michael J. Petrilli, an Education Department official during Bush's first term who is now a critic of the law. "But now with the president so politically weak, conservatives can vote their conscience."
In that respect, Eduwonk is right that this is a "dog bites man" story, but what is totally missing from the WaPo story is any mention of the unions. If testing is removed, it seems kind of clear that sanctions will be as well, which as noted yesterday is what the unions are angling for in reauthorization. Will the NEA/AFT come out in support of this? The GOP and the teachers unions--strange bedfellows indeed...
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.edspresso.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-t.cgi/1281
