Free Republic

Buried in the proposed rewrite of the nation’s massive education law are protections for gay and lesbian students that its supporters liken to the landmark 1972 protections for the rights of female athletes in high school and college. Senate Democrats on Tuesday released a 1,150-page revision of the law governing the nation’s elementary and secondary schools, formally known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act but more commonly called No Child Left Behind. In it, they include student nondiscrimination language that, if passed, would threaten schools’ funding if gay and lesbian students are bullied or harassed. …

Victoria Cobb, President Wednesday, February 16, 2011 Information Alert: Senate Finance Dems Reject Ed Freedom Yesterday, nine Senate democrats rejected education opportunity for low-income children by cowering before Virginia’s education establishment. By a 9-6 party-line vote, and in the face of overwhelming testimony, the committee defeated HB 2314, patroned by Delegate Jimmie Massie (R-72, Henrico). The legislation had the active support of Governor McDonnell and his staff. The Governor took the rare action of going office to office of committee members before yesterday's vote urging their support. I urge you to watch video from yesterday's meeting by clicking here. If...

Senate GOP leaders bemoaned freshman Gov. Bill Ritter’s signing of an education bill they say micromanages sex-ed at local school districts, while leaving more urgent reforms on the back burner. Democrats once again are forcing their agenda on local schools, while overlooking legislation they say would have a much more positive effect on the education system. “I don’t understand how Democrats support telling schools how and what to teach their children about sex, but disapprove of creating math and science standards,” Assistant Senate Republican leader Nancy Spence ... Spence, also the ranking GOP Senate Education Committee member, pointed to Sen....

Nation & World 12/15/03By Michael BaroneChoice and accountability Browse through an archive of columns by Michael Barone. Many conservatives are complaining that George W. Bush is a big-government conservative--or not a conservative at all. They complain about the Medicare prescription drug law he and the House and Senate Republican leadership pushed through, the first major expansion of Medicare since 1965. They call him a big spender, noting that discretionary spending has been rising more rapidly than under Bill Clinton. They complain that he pushed through the first education bill giving the federal government a role in setting standards. They complain...

In this past week we saw Colin Powell address the third world crowd at a conference in South Africa. Colin sides with them on most issues within the Bush Administration. He seems to favor letting Saddam Hussein off the hook for his murderous brutality against his own people as well as ignoring the threats Hussein poses to his neighbors as well as the entire free world with his weapons of mass destruction and his support for terrorists. He favors generous American aid to third world tyrants and wants American taxpayers to bail out the third world from its self imposed...

More Federal Hoops, Traps and Prisons? By Angela Wittman On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The price tag on this "new" law is 26.5 billion dollars. This is reported to be eight billion dollars more than the last Clinton educational bill. The bill passed in the U.S. House of Representatives 381 to 41 and in the U.S. Senate 87 to 10. According to the U.S. Department of Education's Community Update newsletter for January and February of 2002, this is a historic new law that will change the culture of the nation's...