NCLB Repudiated on Home Turf

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

WHO THINKS NCLB STINKS? TEXAS REPUBLICANS, THAT'S WHO
Dallas Morning News "Dallas ISD" Blog -- July 14, 2008
By Kent Fischer

Paul Burka down at Texas Monthly is slogging and blogging through 
political party platform papers.  He's got some initial thoughts posted 
about Republicans, and promises to do the same for Democrats.

But he hasn't blogged one amazing tidbit I found on page 16 of the GOP 
platform,  whereby the state's Republicans officially declare NCLB "a 
massive failure [that] should be abolished."

Cripes! Do the good folks who wrote this platform paper realize that 
Texas Republicans basically midwifed NCLB?

And that NCLB is the centerpiece of their Texas Republican President's 
domestic policy?

And that its implementation was orchestrated by loyal Texas GOP'ers in 
Rod Paige and Margaret Spellings (who, by the way, some have rumored 
might run for office upon her return to Texas)?

And that NCLB was modeled after the Texas accountability system which 
was designed by Texans (Sandy Kress)? Question: Given that, why doesn't 
the GOP also call for abolishing the state accountability system?

To see the state GOP now slap down NCLB, well that seems to be a 
striking reversal on what was hoped to be the President's domestic 
policy legacy.

Some other interesting stuff in there regarding education which I will 
excerpt after the jump ...

School choice ranks No. 6 out of the GOP's 10 "fundamental principals." 
It comes right after "Traditional marriage is the foundational unit of a 
healthy society" (No. 5) and "Strong and vibrant private sector 
unencumbered by government regulation" (No. 7).

Republicans also oppose mandatory kindergarten, saying "parents are best 
suited to train their children in their early development..." That one 
surprised me. I didn't realize that somebody could be against kindergarten.

The platform, not surprisingly, calls for lawmakers to "enact 
child-centered school funding options - which fund the student, not 
schools or districts - to allow maximum freedom of choice in public, 
private or parochial education for all children." In a word, vouchers. 
Again, no surprise there.

And, they want to abolish bilingual education: "The best method is an 
'English Immersion Program.' " I've heard lots of people of all 
political stripes say the same thing over the years.

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