Posted on 01/08/2002 6:26:33 AM PST by 1 FELLOW FREEPER
President Bush made his first real mistake today, signing off on a watered down multi billion dollar education bill, which removed the threat of magnet schools, and vouchers. The teachers unions will now disregard the provisions of the bill, as there is no ultimate penalty for breaching the agreement. Watch the billions disappear, folks.And watch the scores remain the same, or worsen.
Final Education Bill Contains Protections for Home Schoolers
On December 18, 2001, the Senate passed the final version of President George W. Bush's education initiative, H.R. 1, by an 87-10 vote. (The House passed the measure on December 13 by a 381-41 vote.) Passage marked the end of 11 months of intense lobbying by all parties interested in education.
Home School Legal Defense Association, through its National Center for Home Education, worked with the president and Congress on this bill from its earliest stages. While it is the position of HSLDA that the federal government has exceeded its constitutional limits in education policy, we believe that due diligence remains necessary to keep an ever-expanding federal government away from home education. To that end, we were satisfied with certain aspects of the final bill.
The bill specifically states that none of the provisions contained therein should be interpreted as applying to home schooling. It also includes some positive policy steps including prohibitions on the development of a national test, restrictions on use of federal funds to develop any national curriculum, restrictions on federal teacher certification, the repeal of the Goals 2000 program, and prohibitions on a national database.
"We are pleased that the bill clearly states that home school activities are not the business of the federal government," HSLDA President Mike Smith said. "In addition, we are gratified that home schools are expressly exempted from the bill's testing requirements, including any tests merely referenced by the Act. While home schoolers do exceptionally well on standardized testing, the last thing we need is the federal government setting up national tests."
Throughout the course of the year, HSLDA worked extensively with the administration and members of the House and Senate to protect home schooling from regulation in this massive bill. HSLDA crafted language, made suggestions, and encouraged our members encouraged our members to put pressure on key players. In fact, one key congressional committee member called HSLDA and said he had received 100 calls and letters from home schoolers during one day! He promised to work for home schoolers' interests and in exasperation asked us to stop the calls.
Despite these protections for home schoolers, H.R. 1 clearly expands the role of the federal government in education. It authorizes an increase in spending of nearly $8 billion from what was appropriated for 2001. The bill requires testing of all children in grades 3 through 8, and requires that states sample test using the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) in grades 4 and 8. HSLDA has opposed NAEP because we believe that such a centralized federal test runs the risk of becoming, in practice, a de facto national test-and what is tested is what gets taught. Thankfully, some reforms to NAEP were provided in H.R. 1, including parental notice and opt-out provisions.
HSLDA thanks its members and the home school community at large for their calls and prayer during this protracted process. Special thanks is also due HSLDA's National Center staff for their hard work on this legislation, particularly Caleb Kershner, Sam Redfern, and Sarah Durkee.
If it helps the GOP to regain the Senate and hold the House, the benefit that ensues is worth the cost. The President can tweak on problem areas of the law later.
What in education do the Democrats have left to complain about?
President Bush just made his administration the "Education Presidency", something his father had promised but never really impressed on the public.
"No Child Left Behind"; masterful. I don't think these politics could be played any better.
"President Signs Education Bill"
"HAMILTON, Ohio- President Bush, acting Tuesday on his No. 1 domestic priority, signed into law a sweeping education bill that will require new reading and math tests, seek to close the education gap between rich and poor students and raise teacher standards.
"As of this hour, America's schools will be on a new path of reform and a new path of results," Bush said to an audience of hundreds at Hamilton High School, west of Cincinnati. "From this day forward, all students will have a better chance to learn, to excel and to live out their dreams."
Though he spoke at length about the details of the bill, and articulated his plan to get all students reading by third grade, Bush joked of the bill, "I don't intend to read it all. It's not exactly light reading." But, he said, it contained some very important principles, chief among them accountability safeguards for students, teachers and schools.
Above him hung a sign bearing his campaign slogan on education, "No child left behind." Eager to showcase the bipartisan achievement on a campaign promise, the bill signing opened a three-state victory tour. A brass band played Kool and the Gang's "Celebrate" - twice - as Bush was arriving.
Bush waited three weeks to sign the bill and, seeking maximum exposure on an issue of rare agreement between Republicans and Democrats, was taking his roadshow to the states of lawmakers who led the yearlong negotiations on the bill.
"Most bills are signed at the White House. I decided to sign this bill in one of the most important places in America - a public school," Bush said.
In a 12-hour, 1,600-mile swing, the president signed the bill in Ohio, home of GOP Rep. John Boehner; was giving an education speech in New Hampshire, the home state of GOP Sen. Judd Gregg; and touring a school in Massachusetts, home to Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy. The fourth principal sponsor, Democratic Rep. George Miller of California, was traveling with Bush throughout the day. Bush visited California on Saturday.
The bill "will launch a new era of American education," said Education Secretary Rod Paige.
Boehner, in his home district, said the measure will close a decades-old gap in education between rich and poor students. "We as a society and we as a country cannot continue to exist unless we close that gap," Boehner said.
"The bill we sign today will bring a new purpose and a new focus to the federal government's role in education," he said.
Bush also was politicking, greeting 250 campaign donors and volunteers at a private session in New Hampshire, the state that traditionally holds the first presidential primary. It was his first trip to New Hampshire as president and his third to Ohio, the nation's seventh-largest electoral prize.
White House candidate Bush unveiled core education principles in September 1999 at a Los Angeles school. The bill he was signing Tuesday sought to keep the spirit of his pledge then that "In my administration, federal money will no longer follow failure." Many of the specifics, however, did not survive the hard negotiations last year.
The bill requires annual state tests in reading and mathematics for every child in grades three through eight, beginning in the 2005-06 school year. Schools will also have to test students in science in three grades. Candidate Bush had proposed testing poor students each year.
Public schools where scores failed to improve two years in a row could receive more federal aid, but if scores still failed to improve, low-income students could receive tutoring or transportation to another public school.
Those money-shifting provisions replaced a Bush campaign proposal in which federal funds would have been stripped from the worst-performing schools and made available to parents for private education vouchers.
Under the bill passed last month, a school in which scores failed to improve over six years could be restaffed.
Schools must raise the percentage of students proficient in reading and math and reach 100 percent within 12 years. Schools also must close gaps in scores between wealthy and poor students and white and minority students.
The bill requires states to ensure that within four years all teachers are qualified to teach in their subject areas.
Schools also must develop annual "report cards" that show their standardized test scores compared with both local and state schools.
"This is such a giant leap forward - it is actually a cultural shift, a different way of doing business," Education Secretary Rod Paige said in an interview.
"It goes further than anything in the past in terms of demanding accountability from states, school districts, individual schools and individual teachers and principals," Paige said. "No longer can they hide, no longer can their results be hidden."
Bush had promised to "change the tone" in Washington, and by signing the bill, he was seeking some credit for doing so.
A bitter partisan dispute resurfaced Monday, however, when Bush pledged to resubmit the economic revival package that Democrats blocked last year.
White House aides said Bush was considering delivering an economic address shortly before or after the State of the Union address, which is tentatively scheduled for Jan. 29."
--- On the Net:
Education Department: http://www.ed.gov/
This ain't Judge Roy Bean's court room. We're going up against a very powerful lobby. Even in this watered-down bill, we protected home-schoolers, and we are expanding charter schools.
Vouchers will come later, especially if we can prove that these modest reforms are not enough.
"Teaching to the test" is inefficient because children quickly learn to cram for tests and then forget what they know. Their learning isn't very comprehensive that way. But I think home schoolers might shy away from this thinking that the federal government is going to cram something down the kids' throats. I don't worry about this; the standards hoped for are basics in literacy and science and math.
There won't be "teaching to the test" re this bill. Individual neighborhood schools are free to decide HOW the basics are taught--but the basics must be mastered.
I'm beginning to think the only cure is the takeover of school boards in local districts by conservatives. At least there'll be basics-minded persons making the decisions about how that money gets spent.
The bill is purely symbolic.
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