House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi released a statement condemning – I'm sorry, commemorating the fourth anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act. Needless to say, her take on the progress of this critical education initiative it is about as accurate as the predictions of the Y2K global meltdown. And while her contention that NCLB is an unfunded mandate is nothing less than a bald-faced lie there is a larger and more disturbing issue raised by the verbiage in her "statement."
In her statement Pelosi declared:
"Over the last four years, [Republicans] have shortchanged No Child Left Behind by $40 billion, leaving states with new mandates, but not enough funding, and leaving children without the necessary resources. Failing to provide a quality education undermines our responsibility to protect our values of fairness and opportunity for all."
But according to the fact sheet provided by the House Education & the Workforce Committee, chaired by Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), the initiative is not under-funded at all. In fact, data suggests quite the opposite.
"Government data suggests federal education funding has increased more quickly than states can spend the money, with states sitting on billions in unspent No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and special education funds. As of November 12, 2004, states were collectively sitting on $8 billion in federal education funding, with sixty-seven percent of these unspent funds designated for federal school improvement, special education, Title I, and other programs for economically disadvantaged students. "
So, if there is a cache of 8 billion unapplied for dollars at the ready for state education systems it would seem that the only ones making statements about NCLB being under-funded are agenda-driven, partisan politicians who spew divisive, inaccurate, spun rhetoric to further misinform in their pathetic attempts to generate political capital.
Besides alleging the under funding of NCLB, Pelosi stated that Republicans have "refused to increase Pell Grants, pricing hard-working students out of a college education."
Again, the House Education & the Workforce Committee fact sheet disproves Pelosi's unfounded accusation stating:
"...the maximum Pell Grant award, which provides the opportunity for a post-secondary education to millions of disadvantaged students, is funded at $4,050, marking a sixty-four percent increase under Congressional Republicans..."
Hhmm...that's two things that Madam Pelosi has declared that are flat out wrong. Shall we try for three?
Pelosi went on to say that the alleged under-funding of NCLB, "is one in a long line of Republican attacks on our country's education system."
Is Madam Pelosi talking about the education system whose curriculum must be approved by the teachers unions, effectively subordinating the will of locally elected school boards?
Is she speaking of the education system whose performance has been so abysmal that the US Chamber of Commerce has had to initiate a system ranking the performance of state education systems in order to expose the fact that our "graduates" aren't qualified to hold middle management jobs in Third World countries?
Is the congresswoman alluding to the education system that places more importance on inflating an eighth grade graduate's self-esteem than on functional literacy?
Is Nancy Pelosi talking about the education system that puts reading, writing and arithmetic behind learning to put condoms on cucumbers?
The American people should be absolutely outraged at the politics being played with regard to our education system. Whether it is the partisan charged voices of disingenuous elected officials who place their party politics ahead of our children or their over-paid co-conspirators who sit in leadership of the teachers unions, our children are getting the short end of the stick and much less of an education that a country blessed with our resources should be able to provide.
NCLB was designed to address the ongoing, engrained, status quo failures of our education system. Consider that upwards of 30 percent of our young people are not even graduating from high school. Anyone afraid of the "performance evaluation" that NCLB effectively affords the American parent is hiding something, most likely the inability to perform their job at an acceptable level.
It's obvious that many in our education system are petrified at the prospect of being found out to be the peddlers of the institutionalized bigotry of low expectations. While most classroom teachers strive to provide their pupils with the skills for success, administrators, union officials and national disgraces like Nancy Pelosi continue to make excuses for not getting the job done, even if they have to lie about it.
So, while Nancy Pelosi, champion of "progressive" partisans, disgorges her rhetoric in a further attempt at misinformation and political spin, perhaps it is time for parents everywhere to start taking the schools back from agenda-driven, partisan politicians. What a good revolution wouldn't do for education right now!
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Copyright © 2006 Frank Salvato
