Bush: I'd veto bill that weakened No Child Left Behind

Bush: I'd veto bill that weakened No Child Left Behind

by Matthew Hay Brown


Visiting a Chicago elementary school today, President Bush said he was open to increasing flexibility in the No Child Left Behind Act – but threatened to veto any changes that would weaken educational accountability, and said he was prepared to reform it himself if Congress didn’t cooperate.

“Look, I recognize some people don't like accountability,” Bush said today at Horace Greeley Elementary School. “In other words, accountability says if you're failing, we're going to expose that and expect you to change. Accountability also says that when you're succeeding you'll get plenty of praise.

“I know No Child Left Behind has worked. And I believe this country needs to build upon the successes. The philosophy behind No Child Left Behind was in return for money there ought to be results. It's pretty commonsensical it seems like to me.”

Bush’s signature domestic policy, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, which requires public schools to show improvements in student achievement in reading and math or face sanctions, comes up for reauthorization this year. The sides are establishing their positions for the debate to come.

Critics say the law has turned schools into test preparation centers that focus on reading and math to the neglect of other subjects. They also say the law has never been funded to the levels needed for it to work.

“When Congress joined President Bush in 2002 to usher in a dramatic reform of our nation’s schools, we were hopeful that increased accountability and performance standards, together with a significant increase in the federal investment in education, would raise student achievement levels,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said today in response to Bush’s comments.

“Accountability measures have proven far too punitive, with no recognition for schools that have made incremental progress. States have been given little flexibility in implementing the law’s requirements. And NCLB has been vastly under funded since it was first enacted – the President recently vetoed the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill that would have provided an increase to Title I and other programs authorized by NCLB.”

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Hypocrisy is the new norm.

Lying is the new truth.

as long as I've been around and I'm old as dirt.

make public schools look bad and provide political cover for vouchers.

and no one knows failure like DUH-bya

No, just you, motherf***er. Quit yer projectin!

"In other words, accountability says if you're failing, we're going to expose that and expect you to change." :crazy:

and there is little to no new money flow to help with the 'improvement' side of the accountability gig (which was promised at the time it was passed.) There is little to no new money flow for the states to invest in these schools because the costs of the testing has sky rocketed. Testing previous was done in various but not all grades - with a good sampling method to determine whether growth was occuring - but states and to invest in the creation of tests at many more grades (all grades between 3 and 9 are to be tested) and with the administration and scoring of those tests. So there is no new investment in this "accountability". It leaves one thinking that this was the point. There is a lot to be profitted from this game and some little reported scandals in your department of education indicate that perhaps this is why you are so hot to keep the gaming of public schools going.