Gov. Dean on NCLB and Edcucation
I have been steadfastly opposed to the No Child Left Behind since it was originally debated in Congress. The truth is that the real achievement gap among our nation’s youth cannot be remedied by 2000 pages of federal legislation imposing a single plan on every school, district, and state. The Bush administration’s “No Child Left Behind” legislation is a draconian takeover of local and state control. While we all applaud the notion of accountability, the methods in NCLB to measure accountability and promote reform are dangerously flawed. It uses standardized tests as the sole measure of learning, forces the use of incomprehensible and invalid statistics to measure annual success, and mandates school and state operations that are estimated to cost local school boards and state education departments a significant amount of money without appropriate aid. It essentially labels schools as failures and then compels those districts to send students to other schools at the taxpayer’s expense. This represents nothing less than the beginning of the dismantlement of our public school system.
Every one of my fellow Democratic presidential candidates who serve in Congress voted for Bush’s No Child Left Behind bill. Only now that the law’s consequences are apparent do they criticize it. Their votes for this bill show that Washington politicians are not in touch with what our schools, our children, and our teachers really need.
As Governor of Vermont, I was an outspoken critic of this federal intrusion into state and local affairs because I understood that it was terribly flawed. I suggested that my state would be better off refusing the federal money and not participating, because Vermont already had accountability measures that empower our schools to succeed. Why should Vermont, or any state for that matter, participate in a system that encourages schools to dumb down standards or encourage dropouts? Time has proven that my skepticism was well founded. Implementing No Child Left Behind has driven up local property taxes, taken money away from needed school programs and made it even more difficult to pay competitive teacher salaries. Unless we seriously reform No Child Left Behind, these problems will only compound.
Recent polls of U.S citizens indicate that the public continues to have great faith and support for their public schools and trusts decisions made by local teachers much more than those by corporate or federal leaders. They believe that teachers should earn more respect and higher salaries and federal and state resources should be spread equally among all students regardless of the circumstances of birth, family, or economic class. I agree wholeheartedly.
Dean Speech -- What can be done ...take a read.
Text Prepared for Presentation by
Governor Howard Dean
November 21, 2003
VNA Childcare and Family Resource Center
Manchester, New Hampshire
I started this campaign for the presidency with the simple notion that America can be better. I had virtually no staff and no money, but I wanted to talk about health care. I wanted to talk about fiscal responsibility. And I wanted to talk about early childhood development.
Since then, I’ve spoken with Americans across the country, and this campaign has become an incredible grassroots movement of over half a million people. But I’m still committed to those same issues that inspired me to run in the first place.
What I’ve seen across the country is in many ways similar to what I saw as governor of Vermont. Our education system — along with so much of our government — isn’t working for all of the people. And President Bush has chosen to serve those at the top at the expense of everyone else.
And our youngest children are being hurt. The president is underfunding programs like Head Start in order to pay for his tax cuts which benefit those at the very top. Today, almost half a million children are on waiting lists for Head Start. Millions more are losing critical time while their parents are at work.
We need a government that serves every person and every family in this country. And we need to redefine education so that every child begins school with a genuine opportunity to succeed.
Today, as part of a new social contract for the 21st century, I’m announcing a bold plan to change how our country treats learning during a child’s first six years. My plan is called Invest for Success. It’s a $110 billion, ten-year commitment to help parents get pre-school, medical care, childcare and other support for their kids. It’s a massive investment in our kids so they can start school ready to succeed.
http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/cg/index.html?type=page&pagename=policy_speech_education_investforsuccessDoes this show "vision" for policy and knowing what is right for education....Dean has been there -- and no special interests can tell him other.
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