Department of Education deputy assistant secretary, Ken Meyer's may be coming to a town near you. Try to see him speak, because according to Sam Dillon in today's NYTimes, it's a good show. Mr. Dillon caught up with Mr. Meyer's tour in Salt Lake City and listened to well-informed citizens make reasoned arguments against No Child Left Behind, BushCo's infamous underfunded mandate to classify as unsatisfactory as many public schools as possible.
Mr. Dillon's article is full of quotes from both sides of the issue, but he sneaks in bombshells like the one that follows, with no explanation:
Secretary Paige took action on one part of the law on Thursday, announcing that test scores of recent immigrants who did not speak English would no longer be considered in determining whether a school was meeting annual targets for academic progress.
That should mean that fewer schools will be judged as "needing improvement," a label that requires schools to carry out costly remedial measures and can result in removal of their staffs."
Removal of their staffs? I got whiplash reading that line. And hey, that sounds like a labor issue. It's too bad teachers aren't unionized - oh yeah, they are and the NEA and AFT are two of the few unions left in America that have clout. What's a good Norquista to do in the face of that kind of popular power except destroy it at all costs. The article I just linked to is primarily about vouchers, but the issue is the same. Vouchers, NCLB, underfunded mandates - they're all attempts to undermine educators' unions and public education opening the door for privatization.
UPDATE: I fixed the title and the link to the NYTimes story.
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