Apparently the Lion of the Senate, Ted Kennedy, roared a little too loudly when he helped construct the "No Child Left Behind" legislation during the early Bush-43 years. For now, about ten years later, another Democrat reformer, The Barry, has declared this law too draconian and granted ten states exemptions to its provisions (with 28 more states to follow) -- another of the many examples of executive ukase under this regime. (See: L.A. Times Story). In announcing this one of his many end-runs around Congress, Obama declared that this attempt to increase students' proficiencies across our nation was "teaching to the test." This is precisely the same liberal canard that has been used in Massachusetts to deprecate the MCAS testing here (Massachusetts, of course, was one of the ten states granted a waver.)
And this is despite (or maybe "because of"?) the dramatic spending increases that Arne Duncan has enjoyed during his tenure aas head of the Department of Education -- $39.9 billion in his first year (fiscal 2009) with the President's budget calling for $68.0 billion in fiscal 2012 (see: Department of Education Spending and click on the Excel table). And I seem to recall the hoopla surrounding Duncan's appointment where his credentials and rhetoric suggested that his entire raison d'être was to improve the testing results of United States students. Apparently the air has gone out of this balloon ... to be replaced by a condom?
For more of my thoughts on this subject see: Duncan Donuts.
