Legislation
The Four-Year
Anniversary of NCLB: It's not working: On the
four-year anniversary of the so-called No Child Left Behind
Act of 2001,President Bush's signature education bill, NEA
President Reg Weaver summed up the experiences of millions of
education professionals: "Four years of President Bush's
signature education policy is sufficient to weigh facts...the
anniversary marks four years of winning rhetoric and failing
substance."
NEA members support the goals of the law -
high expectations for every child, regardless of background or
abilities. Unfortunately, the law falls far short and NEA's data-driven recommendations to fix and
fund the law remain on the table.
The law's
bureaucratic system of standardized tests, rankings, and
sanctions is interfering with ongoing
efforts to boost achievement for all children and
neglecting to focus attention and resources on those
individual students who need the most need help. The impact
can be felt in every state. See the impact on your state here.
Officially
Flawed: Ironically, the official messages of
celebration themselves highlighted the flaws in the law and
echoed NEA's message of "fix and fund."
President
Bush, marking the four-year-anniversary at a Maryland school,
renounced the intrusive mandates that characterize the law and
pronounced: "one size
does not fit all when it comes to public schools, and that
governance ought to be local," the theme that has
been NEA's mantra.
Secretary of Education Spellings,
in an Associated Press interview, described the law's
implementation as adjustment, learning-as-they-go.' "And what
we do today will probably be not what we're going to do in
three years from now," she said.
Rep.
George Miller (D-CA) and Sen.
Edward Kennedy (D-MA), two of the law's main
authors, attacked the funding hole. In statements marking the
four-year anniversary, Kennedy said, "These are still the
right goals for our schools, but the sad story on No Child
Left Behind is promises unfulfilledTeachers, principals and
parents are doing their part, but the Bush Administration has
failed to do its part to provide the resources needed to fully
implement these reforms." Miller elaborated, "...over the last
four years, schools have received $40 billion less than what
was promised to them when the law was approved. And just a few
weeks ago, the Congress passed and the President signed a law
that further cuts education funding for 2006...Schools,
teachers, administrators, parents, and children have held up
their end of the bargain, and the results are beginning to
show. Now it's time for Congress and the President to finally
hold up their end of the bargain, too."
National
Public Radio (NPR) noted the four-year anniversary
with a special program featuring Joel Packer (NEA ESEA Policy
Director), Claudio Sanchez (NPR education correspondent), Ross
Weiner (Education Trust) and David Dunn (Chief of Staff to
Secretary Spellings). Callers echoed the irony of anniversary
messages that cited flaws, rather than accomplishments. Every
caller was critical of NCLB. The complete audio file (45
minuets) is available here.
The Stark
Reality - No Birthday Cake: What do funding cuts mean
for your state? How many children in your state are affected?
NEA posts updated State and
Congressional District final Fiscal Year 2006
(school year 06-07) funding data.
Your state's profile
shows the impact of the $1 billion cut to NCLB programs and
the cuts to other key education programs (Special education,
Vocational Education, Head Start, and college student
financial aid). The profile also shows how many students are
un-served because of the funding shortfalls. Nationally, Title
I, which was funded at $10 billion below the NCLB promised
level, leaves almost 4 million low-income children un-served.
News You Can Use
Looking Ahead
to Reauthorization: The American Federation of
Teachers (AFT) has unveiled a new NCLB
website and blog.
The Council of Chief
State School Officers (CCSSO) announced the creation of a new NCLB
Reauthorization Task Force. The task force will be responsible
for ramping up the Council's efforts to reinforce sound state
and local education practices and to craft CCSSO's
reauthorization proposal.
