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COMMENTARY No Child underfunded, failing our children By Rep. Roy Takumi |
Your recent editorial ("No Child needs fixing for all students' sake," Jan. 15) accurately pointed out the flaws of the federal government's No Child Left Behind Act. However, the conclusion that this law can be improved is not shared by a growing number of states and former officials in the U.S. Department of Education.
Last year, a record 61 measures were introduced in 24 states calling on Congress to amend or repeal NCLB. The Republican-controlled Senate in Kansas passed a resolution urging Congress to adequately fund NCLB, and Connecticut filed a lawsuit in federal court opposing NCLB as an unfunded mandate.
Diane Ravitch, who served as an assistant secretary of education in the first Bush administration, recently wrote, "What reason do we believe that Congress knows how to fix the nation's schools? Do the districts have the capacity? Do the state education departments have the capacity? I can assure you that if neither of them has the capacity, the U.S. Department of Education has even less."
Another former assistant deputy secretary, Mike Petrilli, who served in the current Bush administration and currently is the executive editor of Education Week, wrote, "For almost five years now, I've considered myself a supporter of (NCLB). I was a True Believer. I've gradually and reluctantly come to the conclusion that NCLB as enacted is fundamentally flawed and probably beyond repair."
Unfortunately, in spite of these growing concerns from across the political and educational spectrum, the Bush administration is determined to stay the course. U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings recently made this astonishing statement: "I talk about (NCLB) like Ivory soap; It's 99.9 percent pure or something. There's not much needed in the way of change."
I disagree. I believe it's time we wash our hands of NCLB. Here are several reasons why:
We all want our schools to succeed and all of our students to reach their full potential. To do this, we must move away from a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach whether it's at the federal or state level. The essence of the Reinventing Education Act of 2004 (Act 51) rests upon the belief that we must empower each school and all of its stakeholders with the flexibility and authority to determine its own educational destiny.
Let's embrace the laudable goal of NCLB that no child should be left behind, but let's stand up and oppose underfunded mandates that rely upon high-stakes testing. Let's not forget that schools exist for children and not the other way around.
Rep. Roy Takumi, D-36th (Pearl City, Palisades), is chairman of the House Education Committee. He wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.
