NCLB: Dumb but Constitutional
The NEA, apparently flush with so much cash it can afford to hire lawyers to argue frivolous lawsuits, says it will appeal a judge's ruling that their lawsuit is as idiotic as the law they seek to overthrow.
Now lord knows NCLB is a stupid law...Read more It's premise is that all students are of equal ability, and so any school district that does not bring all its students up to the grade standards must be doing something wrong. But for districts that have a large African-American population, this presents an unwinnable challenge - unless the tests or standards are watered down. So the NEA has a point - the law is completely unworkable. But the solution is simple - each state should opt out of NCLB and just forego the federal money. But the NEA, the biggest lobbier for federal involvement in education, doesn't want that! They want to have their cake and eat it, too. Instead, they must reap what they sow!
A judge threw out a lawsuit Wednesday that sought to block the No Child Left Behind law, President Bush's signature education policy.Selected school districts joined the suits. What was their argument?
The school districts had argued that the law is costing them more than they are receiving in federal funding.Well then refuse the funds, and forget NCLB!
Now lord knows NCLB is a stupid law...Read more It's premise is that all students are of equal ability, and so any school district that does not bring all its students up to the grade standards must be doing something wrong. But for districts that have a large African-American population, this presents an unwinnable challenge - unless the tests or standards are watered down. So the NEA has a point - the law is completely unworkable. But the solution is simple - each state should opt out of NCLB and just forego the federal money. But the NEA, the biggest lobbier for federal involvement in education, doesn't want that! They want to have their cake and eat it, too. Instead, they must reap what they sow!
posted by ziel | 11/23/2005 06:13:00 PM
2 Comments:
Actually, NCLB is unconstitutional, but thereal reason for this - the Constitution does not authorize federal involvement in education, except, arguanly, military academies under the rubric of "Defense" is not one that the NEA would support, for obvious reasons.
True, the founders would be horrified by NCLB and any number of other federal programs. But we had a couple of de facto constitutional amendments in the middle of the last century. The first one was "Congress shall have power to spend money on anything it wants" and the second was "the bill of rights shall be considered to apply to the states, except when inconvenient." So given that, I believe NCLB is constitutional.
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