in the collection
NCLB sinks FCAT
by Bill Archer
The parents of children at our school, which has earned "A" for five out of the last six years on Jeb Bush's "education reform" FCAT scam, are receiving letters announcing our school's failure to meet the federal government's No Child Left Behind Annual Yearly Performance (AYP) standards for the third year in a row. As a consequence, all our students will be given the opportunity to leave our school to enroll in another more "successful" school if the parents choose. Or the parents can apply for private tutoring that will be paid for with federal tax dollars otherwise intended for public schools. And, finally, the parents could instead choose to keep their students in our "A" school.
During Gov. Bush's tenure, he's made sure FCAT test scores improved statewide. After years of elaborate strategies to keep the details of the FCAT out of public scrutiny, so no one could successfully challenge its validity and reliability, he's been able to do that. And then along came the No Child Left Behind Act. He couldn't foresee that his unwitting brother George's national NCLB act would sabotage the illusion that his education reform scheme was anything but successful. And now with the NCLB's vague and nebulous standards for success, that are not synchronized with the FCAT's, comes the suspicion that both programs are nothing less than clever ways to funnel tax dollars into the pockets of private business.
From Florida to Iraq it seems there is a pattern shared between these politically and genetically linked leaders. Despite the very lofty goals and loudly proclaimed yet unsubstantiated claims they always make, their policies always seem to result in more devious ways to funnel public funds into private coffers. With a little more than two years left until the next presidential election, we need to give a strong message to their congressional supporters in the midterms that we have had enough. And we must work hard to make sure the next presidential election isn't again marred by the kind of interference that resulted in this present political anomaly that rewards the wealthy at the expense of the rest of us.
— Bill Archer
News-Journal
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/Opinion/LettersToTheEditor/03LetterLET090205.htm
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