Paige makes case for Left Behind law

He says program adequately funded
By ALAN J. BORSUK
aborsuk@journalsentinel.com
Posted: May 24, 2004
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/may04/231830.asp

U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige said Monday that he was confident the federal education law known as No Child Left Behind was adequately funded and could withstand the kind of legal challenge envisioned by Wisconsin Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager.

During a brief visit to Milwaukee - specifically to Engleburg Elementary School on the northwest side - Paige defended the law as a common-sense step toward raising the achievement of children across the United States.

The law has come under increasing criticism, particularly from Democrats whose foremost argument has been that it is underfunded. Lautenschlager recently issued an opinion that could open the door to a school district escaping the requirements of the law. The law itself says that no state or school district can be required to spend more because of the law than the federal government provides.

Paige said attorneys for the education department were examining Lautenschlager's opinion. "I'm very confident that the answer is going to be that the No Child Left Behind Act is sufficiently funded," he said.

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Talk about David and Goliath. I'm hoping Lautenschlager can win this one. NCLB is all about taking our public schools down and any way we can get rid of it is fine by me.

when 60-70% of the schools in the country are "failed" and kids can't add or spell because teachers had to teach the test day after day

what a bunch of crap is NCLB

One of the high schools on our failing list here in New Hampshire is the premiere high school in the state--it serves the Hannover community, which is home to Dartmouth College. It has consistently been the top performer in the state on our annual test of 10th grade students. However, it was put on the failing list because it failed to meet its AYP for students with disabilities.

We will ALL be on that list before long.

just like they do to justify Black Box Voting.

it was put on the failing list because it failed to meet its AYP for students with disabilities.

Many parents of students with behavioral disabilities, such as autism, are already concerned that special ed emphasizes only academics at the expense of daily living skills. No Affluent White Non-Disabled Child Left Behind can only exacerbate this problem.

Then again, special ed's very existence is under the gun. S. 1248, now in conference, would, among other things, allow 15 states into a pilot "paperwork reduction program" (read: "accountability reduction"), thanks to none other than Rick Santorum (R-Man on Dog).

Control what goes on the test, and you control what is in the curriculum.

... thinking that someone was thinking up a law for all the people who'll be "left behind" after everyone else flies up to heaven!

My dispensationalist upbringing totally kicked in!

Left Behind series - kind of "equal time" for the Harry Potter books.

On edit: oh wow - post 12 suggested the same thing.

Instead of reading the classics like Huckleberry Finn, students will be required to read the "Left Behind" series.

that is not a good abbrevation for NCLB. "No child" would be less alarming.

,...those who score at the 70% or less of high school students must give up their career in politics (and I would bet that at least half or more would score lower than 70%).

The tests are absurd, demanding mostly recall skills of worthless information. Education is supposed to be about not only basic skills but invigorating students' capacity to T-H-I-N-K.

Isn't Paige the same one that helped manipulate the Houston School Districts drop-outs statistics to make it appear that they were achieving higher graduation rates than they actually were?
Is anyone in this Administration capable of telling the truth?????

and licking the boots, knees, and higher.

system he set up in Texas. It was a scathing report on how Mr. Paige cooked the books and lied about it in the state of Texas.

I thought the sucker would be so embarrassed he'd resign as Secretary of Education.

Corporations, the government, and the "faith-based" groups decide which info is "real" and which is not. They are deliberately manipulating and constructing a designer reality.

Don't fool yourselves.

Bush and Paige (and many others) do not believe in a free education as the basis of democracy. The NCLB act is meant to show that all schools are failures. There are three and a half reasons for this:
1. To poison the well of federal financing for education. States will bail and get off the teat.

2. To end the "free ride." Sorry, but there's profit to be had in private schools, private tutoring firms, test prep firms, testing companies---and, of course, vouchers!

2.A. Vouchers will also ensure that the richest always have the best schools, while simultaneously draining money from public education (which is full of those pesky minorities and lower-income people).

3. To advance "faith-based" schools and education entities. Gee, can you guess whose faith?

For an frightening read, go to this "In These Times" article about how
Paige, Bush, and the Waltons will use NCLB to do any damn thing they want:
http://www.inthesetimes.com/comments.php?id=672_0_1_0_C

No 'Choice'
(snip)
The family’s immediate personal ambitions are more modest: to destroy public education in the United States. To that end the Waltons, through their Walton Family Foundation and in close collaboration with Milwaukee’s Bradley Foundation, literally invented the national school “choice” network and its wedge issue-weapon, vouchers.
(more)

by having a court throw out the standardized testing minimums.