Sure. NCLB forces school districts to enact foolish practices like placing an English-version standardized test in front of a kid who doesn't speak English. It forces a disproportionate amount of funding into failing schools - remember that money generally comes from people in "successful" districts, since wealth and school performance are correlated.
Bottom line: Let's be candid. "No Child Left Behind" is a nice sound byte that's unworkable in practice. All people are created equal; that doesn't mean we all cross the finish line at the same time. That's just life.
Prior to NCLB, ALL public schools are funded by the government. This alone is nothing new.
This shifts more of the funding burden to the federal level; I'd submit that isn't a good thing. I suspect most conservatives would agree that increased accountability comes with increased decentralization of control and funding. This program is no exception; we're moving in the wrong direction.
...sits with nittany
I can agree that increases decentralization of the education system is theoretically a good thing but many, many school systems are not responsible enough to manage themselves or even be accountable to parents.
NCLB was the first step toward educational accountability and unfortunately the only way I believe it could have been passed was in this form. Hopefully later down the road, the accountability can be given back to the state or local level, if they deserve it. Remember, most liberals run schools and do not think in market terms that assist decentralization of power to work.
A couple of years ago, I would have agreed with you wholeheartedly. However, I have recently seen instances of lower income areas with great (better than my children's schools) test scores. I don't know what the teachers are doing there, but it's working. People KNOW how to do this the "right" way. Why everyone isn't flocking to these schools to learn their practices is beyond me.
I don't object to seeing a student who doesn't speak English being FORCED to LEARN it.
More funding by the federal government really doesn't matter.
Ideally I'l like to see ALL public schools abolished and appropriate tax relief available to all and have the parents of kids in school chose what school they wanted for their children - private, religious - whatever.