"STRAIGHT A's ACT" Should
Be Flunked
The restructuring of our nation's
educational restructuring has been underway for the past forty years. It
began in 1965 when Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act. This Act represents the bulk of the federal government's spending and
control of education, accounting for $14 billion in fiscal 1999. "By
any definition the government's intervention into the education of our
nation's children has been a dismal failure," says Tom DeWeese,
president of the American Policy Center.
Writing in the August issue of The
DeWeese Report, published by the American Policy Center, DeWeese warns
that "The pace of restructuring, however, has excellerated under the
Clinton Administration through programs such as Goals 2000,
School-To-Work, The CAREERS Act, block grant programs like Title I and
Title IV, and many more. As the situation grows worse, politicians
scrambled to provide solutions. They called for stricter standards, more
assessments of students, and of course, more money and smaller classrooms.
Congress has suggested about every solution except the one that will do
away with the problem, the elimination of federal intervention in
schools."
"The latest folly to excite
Republicans is a do-nothing program under the cute little title "Straight
A's Act (H.R.2300)," says DeWeese. "Of course the sound
bites assure us all that the program is completely "voluntary"
in the same way they represented the previous 'Goals 2000.' The program,
they say, will give the States and parents the power to choose if they
want to participate in federal programs. They promise higher test scores,
school discipline, and a brighter future for our children. The same thing
politicians promised with Goals 2000."
"Straight A's" promises to cut
red tape and bureaucracies. However, in order to keep the federal funds
flowing, all accountability, i.e., control, resides with the federal
government. The strings are still there. The programs are still in place.
Under the Act, States must have in place standards and aligned
assessments, just like Goals 2000. Students must meet certain federal
standards, just like Goals 2000. Throughout the Act, words like
"states must assure...must implement...must have in place..."
are used to dictate federal guidelines in order for states to qualify for
the federal dollars.
"Where is the change in policy?
Where is the newfound freedom for the states? Where is the answer to
improving education? It's a mirage. It's the same old smoke and mirrors.
It's the same enslavement of State and local educational programs that
want to qualify for the money involved. Across the nation, federal
guidelines have become state law. There are now State level Goals 2000 and
School-To-Work programs in place. These programs are run by an entrenched
state bureaucracy that answers to the federal Department of Education.
They control the flow and use of the money. They implement the
programs."
"Nothing will change under
"Straight A's" Act. It is a flimflam," says DeWeese.
"It is an attempt by the Republicans to pretend they are doing
something about education while they leave a failed system intact. "
A recent survey of its members by the
Republican National Committee asks what federal departments should be
eliminated. Energy, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, are named,
but the one most in need of being abolished, the Department of Education
is not included. "The only way Americans are going to reclaim
their schools will be to abolish the Department of Education, leaving
education dollars in the states instead of laundering them through
Washington D.C.," says DeWeese.
The federal government must get out of
education, says DeWeese. Only then, will the problems plaguing our schools
begin to solve themselves. The failure of America's children to learn the
Three R's is in free fall, worsening with every passing year. Any other
"solution" is a worthless Band-Aid that plays into the
well-financed hands of the education bureaucracy that created the crisis
in the first place.
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