AUTHOR: Joel Packer DATE: 5/21/2008 03:24:00 PM ----- BODY:

In less than a year, the Bush administration’s Magical Mystery Tour approach to education will come to an end. The belief that schools magically improve without resources or funding or relationships with educators, administrators or school districts – all that will fade like a flashback. The mystery of how this Administration believed it could sell a policy that says fewer resources plus reduced time to teach plus more testing equaled greater student achievement will never be solved. Listen to the podcast, and send your questions to Joel@nea.org. ---------- The transcript follows: Hi. This is Joel. Welcome to the podcast. If President Bush and Education Secretary Spellings had to use a song to describe their funding policy for No Child Left Behind they might have picked the Beatles’ “Can’t Buy Me Love”. You know “'cause I don't care too much for money, money can't buy me love.” But most educators and state and local officials would instead pick another Beatles’ song, “Money” and think of these words as music to their ears:

“Money don't get everything it's true. What it don't get I can't use. So gimme money that's what I want.”

It’s true. Money “don’t get everything” needed to help close achievement gaps, improve student achievement for all students, or ensure all students have great public schools, but without the resources and investments needed so educators can get the job done, we won’t reach the goals. Yes, it takes money to pay for smaller class sizes, expanded professional development for teachers, after-school programs, quality PreK, new textbooks, technology, and modern schools. Yet in each of the past three school years, an average of 63 percent of school districts have received LESS Title I money than they got the previous year. Title I provides federal money for extra reading and math help for educationally disadvantaged students in schools where low-income students are concentrated. These cutbacks should not be a surprise because since the enactment of NCLB in 2002, funding for Title I is more than $54 BILLION below what was proposed in NCLB. And sadly, President Bush’s budget for next year would further shortchange children and public schools under Title I by another $10.7 billion; more than 4 million low-income children will NOT receive the full range of services and programs they need and deserve. That’s not even the worst of it. When you compare the overall mandates of the law to the overall money committed, by the end of the Bush years the funding short fall will be more than $85 billion. In a report last year, the Center on Education Policy found that in recent years approximately 80% of districts have assumed costs to carry out NCLB for which they are not being reimbursed by the federal government. NEA and eight school districts have filed a lawsuit challenging the right of the federal government to force states and school districts to spend their own funds to meet the NCLB mandates. The suit is still pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals with several states now supporting our effort. The funding squeeze becomes worse each year as the federal mandates become more stringent. Annual standardized testing of students in reading and math originally was only required for three grades -- once in elementary, once in middle school, and once in high school. Starting in the 2005-06 school year, every state had to test every student annually in reading and math in seven grades - each of grades 3-8 and once in high school. Starting in the 2007-08 school year, each state had to annually test students in at least three grades in science. All teachers of core academic subjects had to be highly qualified by the end of the 2006-07 school tear. And of course, by the 2013-14 school year, 100% of all students must be proficient in reading and math. Mandates piling up, dollars draining away. It may be the worst thing the Bush Administration has done to public education. And what has the President proposed in his budget for next year?. How about over $1 billion for two new private school voucher programs. How about eliminating funds for arts education and parent information centers? How about cutting state grants for safe and drug-free schools by 66%? In less than a year, the Bush Administration’s Magical Mystery Tour approach to education will come to an end. The belief that schools magically improve without resources or funding or relationships with educators, administrators or school districts – all that will fade like a flashback. The mystery of how this administration believed it could sell a policy that says fewer resources plus reduced time to teach plus more testing equaled greater student achievement will never be solved. The Bush education policy tour isn’t over, but it has more than lost its way, now it’s just plain lost.

Labels: Bush Administration, ESEA, NCLB, NEA, No Child Left Behind, school funding

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Thomas Pain COMMENT-DATE:May 27, 2008 12:50 AM COMMENT-BODY:yeah, so let's continue to watch Fox network every night while we stuff our faces with genetically modified foods and our kids chew on toys laden with lead from China. And just forget about the civilians being blown up in Iraq all in the name of "Freedom" Your article goes round and round. I want to know WHY Bush is killing off our public schools. And WHY you are not curious? -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR:

Janet B COMMENT-DATE:May 29, 2008 8:38 AM COMMENT-BODY:How can you be sure this will come to an end? McCain seems frighteningly supportive of NCLB, as well as many of Bush's policies. And Spellings stubbornly insists that NCLB is good for our kids, completely ignoring loads of evidence to the contrary. If McCain is elected, NCLB could undermine schools forever! That's a scary thought. -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR:

Anonymous COMMENT-DATE:June 2, 2008 4:46 PM COMMENT-BODY:NCLB requires states to commit extra resources to schools that have been identified for improvement. It's almost like Joel isn't telling the whole truth about NCLB.
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Joel said, "The belief that schools magically improve without resources or funding or relationships with educators, administrators or school districts – all that will fade like a flashback. The mystery of how this Administration believed it could sell a policy that says fewer resources plus reduced time to teach plus more testing equaled greater student achievement will never be solved." -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR:

NYC Educator COMMENT-DATE:June 2, 2008 5:12 PM COMMENT-BODY:I hope it will fade. But people seem to believe just about anything nowadays. Even after he faked the Texas Miracle and paid off journalists to push his programs, even after he quietly slinked away from the worst administration ever, Rod Paige appears on Blue Ribbon panels and pontificates about the perfidy of unions.

And people still listen to him.

I hope they start listening to you instead. -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR:

claire COMMENT-DATE:June 9, 2008 4:35 PM COMMENT-BODY:NCLB also promised to help make schools into healthy high performance facilities, known to the federal and state agencies to boost attendance, achievement and productivity.

It's fine to demand better standards. What happpened to the commitments for healthy environments for learning? -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR:

Anonymous COMMENT-DATE:June 9, 2008 8:01 PM COMMENT-BODY:NCLB is an oxymoron. conceptually means the schools will only be as good as their worst students. It holds educators accountable for any and all issues that keep students from academic excellence... most of which the educators have no control. I'm all for assuring high education standards. In many of economically challenged area, the standards are at level 10 while teachers cannot educate above level 5 in order to prevent any child from being left beind. It is this chasm that many students fall through. This law was designed to benefit the students with access to the best resources being, being taught in the best environment; students who's parents value education and send their children to school encouraged to learn. Everyone else is LEFT BEHIND. -------- COMMENT-AUTHOR:

Anonymous COMMENT-DATE:June 13, 2008 4:31 PM COMMENT-BODY:Oh brother,. you people need some cheese with your whine..... -
How did the IRAQ war get in the mix on this topic,,. stick to the issue.
Does anyone realize that TED KENNEDY wrote the NCLB act? - check it out for yourself. Do you have better solutions other than throwing money at everything? Why did public education work very well 30yrs ago? --------