Candidates debate No Child

[Bob Schaeffer <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>]

Now is the time to press ALL candidates from all parties to commit to 
overhauling NCLB. Ask them to endorse the Joint Statement, now signed by 
more than 90 national education, civil rights, religious and civic 
groups 
(http://www.fairtest.org/joint%20statement%20civil%20rights%20grps%2010-21-04.html) 




CANDIDATES DEBATE NO CHILD

Honolulu Advertiser -- October 8, 2006
by William Cole

Six candidates for state and federal offices agreed yesterday at an 
early-childhood conference that the federal No Child Left Behind Act 
should be changed or ditched.

Not only is it an unfunded mandate, "but as a program, it's just not 
working. We all know that," said Mazie Hirono, the Democratic candidate 
for the 2nd Congressional District House seat being vacated by Rep. Ed Case.

Hirono said she would refrain from spending money on testing to meet 
requirements of the act and labels like "failing schools," and instead 
spend resources for preschool and recruiting, training and retention of 
qualified teachers.

Her Republican opponent in the November election, Bob Hogue, said 
improvements already are being made. He also noted the act was a 
bipartisan effort.

"So, (as) we move forward on this, I don't think that we want to throw 
the baby out with the bath water," he said. Reforms are being made to 
the education system and that's a good thing, he added.

"However, we need to make the adjustments and amendments that are 
necessary to make sure that this is a much more positive act than 
talking about failing schools, and all of the demands that are on 
teachers," he said.

Hogue said the act can be better funded so it helps teachers, and most 
importantly, recognizes student achievement.

The candidates spoke at a forum sponsored by the Hawai'i Association for 
the Education of Young Children at the Hawai'i Convention Center.

In addition to Hirono and Hogue, the panel included U.S. Senate 
candidate and Republican Cynthia Thielen; Malama Solomon, seeking the 
job of lieutenant governor on the Democratic ticket; and Renee Ing and 
Jim Brewer, the Green Party candidates for lieutenant governor and governor.

Forum officials said all candidates for the U.S. Senate and House seats 
and governor and lieutenant governor were invited.

About 950 early-childhood professionals, most of them teachers, attended 
yesterday's Hawai'i Early Childhood Conference.

Jacqueline de Guzman, vice president of public policy for the Hawai'i 
Association for the Education of Young Children, said there is a "huge 
gap" remaining for early childhood education in Hawai'i even with 
programs like Head Start, a national program for families below the 
poverty level, and Pre-Plus, a state effort providing sites for 
preschool programs.

"There are 78,000 who are needing care and we are providing only about 
24,000 to 25,000 of that," de Guzman said.

Thielen said No Child Left Behind "has a noble goal of making sure that 
our children are educated in our classroom. But we desperately need to 
amend the law."

The state Department of Education "is like a vacuum, sucking in the 
majority of the money, we all know that, and then the dribble goes out 
to the classrooms," she said.

Thielen said the act needs to be amended to provide more teacher 
training and principal enrichment.

The law, which will be up for reauthorization, creates standards in each 
state for what every child should know and learn in reading and math in 
grades 3-8 and requires schools that get federal poverty aid and fall 
short of their yearly progress goals for two straight years to offer 
transfers to students.

Solomon said No Child Left Behind was instituted with the understanding 
the federal government was going to provide the money to make the 
program work.

"Well, that, my friends, has never happened," she said.

The law is causing the school system in Hawai'i to fail with "test after 
test after test."

"It's either put up (the funding) or repeal," she said.

Ing also agreed that the government has to provide the money or repeal 
the act.

"Then the question becomes, 'Where do you get the money?' " she said, 
adding that the wealthy got tax cuts.

"That is where the money went that used to educate our children," she 
said. " ... We need to get that money back." The state needs to "retax 
corporate entities and the very wealthy."

Brewer said "I believe that we need to extend public schools down to 
preschool grades and we need to start it right now ... "

All the candidates agreed early childhood education is important. Hogue 
said teachers should be recognized more. He also agrees with the option 
of sending a child to kindergarten twice "because some children just 
aren't quite ready to get into the system."

Hirono said "clearly, there's a disconnect between what we're seeing and 
what we're doing, and a lot of times we're told, 'We can't pay for 
teachers.' " That includes kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers, she 
said.

She received one of the the biggest rounds of applause when she added, 
"We are spending over $200 million every single day on the war in Iraq," 
money that could help with education.

Gail Shin, a preschool teacher on Lana'i attending the forum, said the 
No Child Left Behind Act is not working, "and I'm glad the whole panel 
recognizes that it isn't and we need to do something about it."

Cyndi Willmarth, a preschool teacher on the Big Island, said "there are 
so many issues in early childhood (education) and it's so divided in so 
many ways."

But she, too, said No Child Left Behind "is not working for children."

"I'm kind of throwing the baby out with the bath water with this one," 
she said, disagreeing with Hogue. "The program, as it's now set up, is 
leaving children behind because we're trying to make them all the same, 
versus recognizing how unique experiences are in education            
         

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