It is not a great inferential leap to assert that the future of an NCLB that fits the school improvement industry's needs - one with meaningful accountability - is going to be strangely intertwined with the Administration's painfully visible, ongoing loss of power and credibility on Capitol Hill. The President has a dwindling reserve of influence, and given a choice between national security and education, he will spend it on the first.
The longer reauthorization is delayed, the less of a player the President becomes. Your editor wonders if it might be delayed long enough to see another President in the White House, and if the incumbent is a Democrat how that might affect the substance of a new law.
NCLB's primary champion may not be up to the task. Its future now rests in the hands of Senator Kennedy and Representative Miller. How very ironic for a school improvement industry that spent most of the last six years focused on Republicans and the Republican Administration and neglecting Democrats.
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I have just had what I consider to be not only a fascinating meeting, but an important meeting about the No Child Left Behind Act with leaders of the civil rights movement, education leaders from around our country, business leaders who are concerned about America's competitiveness.
There is a universal belief that the No Child Left Behind Act needs to be reauthorized, and I want to thank you all for working with us to get this piece of legislation reauthorized.
I believe the No Child Left Behind Act needs to be reauthorized because it's working. It's a piece of legislation which believes in setting high standards and using accountability to make sure that every single child gets a good education. I strongly support the notion that when we find a child falling behind that there ought to be extra federal help so that child can catch back up early, before it's too late.
I strongly condemn an achievement gap that exists in this country. It's a gap between Anglo students and Latino students, or white students and black students -- and it's not in our country's interest to allow an education system to continue to foster that difference in achievement. The No Child Left Behind Act is beginning to close that gap. It's the impetus necessary to cause the reforms, the curriculum changes necessary to make sure every child has a chance of realizing the great hopes of our country.
Reauthorizing No Child Left Behind Act is an important state, an
important move; it's an important piece of legislation necessary to keep
this country not only competitive, but also a country of great hope.
And so I want to thank you all for joining us.
Listen Here.
President Bush, acknowledging public frustration over his No Child Left Behind Act, said Thursday the point of the law is not to punish schools that fall short, but to help them. ...
"It is important for all of us to make it clear that accountability is not a way to punish anybody," Bush told supporters of the law in a meeting at the White House. "It's an essential component to making sure that our system, our education system, frankly is not discriminatory."...
Schools that receive federal aid face sanctions if they
don't show yearly progress among their students,
including poor children, minorities and limited-English learners.
The result is that schools must give more attention to kids who often struggle the most.
Yet where Bush sees accountability, others see punishment....
The president seemed aware of these perceptions.
"It's really important for the citizens to understand that I'm a huge believer in the public school systems," Bush said. "I believe our public schools have really made America."...
Bush appears to have enough bipartisan support to get the law renewed with its core elements intact, although conservative Republicans oppose it on grounds that it is a federal intrusion....
Ben Feller, Associated Press, April 12.