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Paige is a typical education bureaucrat, out of touch with education reality. He does have some valid criticisms of the ineffectiveness of many public schools. What he doesn't understand is that loss of local control is the main thing killing our schools. Sure, teachers should be accountable: but to parents, students, and local school boards, *not* federal and state bureaucrats.

NCLB is *strengthening* the grip state departments of education have on schools and working against reforms that might make things better.

Example:

NCLB requires a "well qualified" teacher in every classroom. But who defines well-qualified? State education bureaucracies. In our state, any teacher who has taught a subject in the last three years is, by definition, well qualified. How nice.

But suppose a Ph.D. in English wants to teach high school English, or a retired engineer wants to teach math. Sorry. Not qualified. No education courses!

The federal government has no business at all in education. None. Zero. Republicans once understood that.