The A-PLUS Education Plan
A Conservative Alternative to No Child Left Behind
By Bluey Posted in Congress | Featured Stories — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
UPDATE: Tom Maguire at Instapundit notes that Kevin Drum and Matt Yglesias are "slugging it out" over No Child Left Behind and whether "conservatives support the 100% proficiency goal ... as part of a secret scheme to deem every public school in America a failure?" While they get bogged down in that debate, true conservatives are moving forward with a bold plan of their own, as I've noted below.
Conservatives in Congress will put forward their alternative to No Child Left Behind tomorrow at a Capitol Hill press conference, marking a departure from the Bush Administration and congressional Democrats who seem content with letting the federal government control education.
The A-PLUS plan is sponsored by Senators John Cornyn (R.-Tex.) and Jim DeMint (R.-S.C.) and Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R.-Mich.). As I wrote about for Human Events yesterday, it would return more power to local schools and reduce Washington’s involvement in education. The Heritage Foundation's Jennifer Marshall explains its significance in this new video:
Read on ...
During a lecture at the Heritage Foundation earlier this year, Cornyn and DeMint outlined the overarching goals of the legislation. Meanwhile, Heritage Foundation education analyst Dan Lips has written extensively about the problems with No Child Left Behind.
If you're in or around Washington tomorrow, I strongly encourage you to show up at the press conference. Details below.
MEDIA ADVISORY
Cornyn, DeMint, Hoekstra to Introduce A-PLUS Act to Reform NCLB
Washington, D.C. – On Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 11:30 a.m., U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) and U.S. Congressman Pete Hoekstra (R-Michigan) will hold a press conference to introduce the Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success Act (A-PLUS). The event will be held at the Senate Swamp located in the Upper Senate Park next to the Russell Office Building.
The A-PLUS Act would reform No Child Left Behind to offer states and schools flexibility to improve student achievement outside of burdensome federal regulations.
Who: Sens. John Cornyn, Jim DeMint, Cong. Pete Hoekstra
What: Introduction of A-PLUS Act
When: Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 11:30 a.m.
Where: Senate Swamp, or if raining in Russell 188.
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and I am deeply grateful you are paying attention to this matter. To me, NCLB is an even starker betrayal of conservative principle than Medicare Part D (which is, by itself, outrageous enough) in that NCLB opened up an entirely new vista of intervention by the federal government (into our classrooms, no less). Thank you.
Based on the lecture article link it seems like a step in the right direction. Getting some congresspeople with the courage to call this program what it is gives some hope, I can even overlook some of the typical hand wringing (ala, "NCLB had good intentions, but it didn't work out that way...").
Hard to say without more details; a key element for me must be the reduction of federal spending coupled with an in kind reduction in federal taxes, allowing states to decide how to fund their own schools. One dissappointing aspect appears to be this idea of continued central control and authority: "states have the option to stay under the No Child Left Behind regime or choose to take the accountability and standards of that regimen but have the flexibility to accomplish the goals in a different way". That's still way too much unnecessary federal involvement, and way too much waste. And it's a little odd reading that right after hearing that "federal regulatory requirements are so onerous that six times as many people are required to administer a federal education dollar as are required to administer a state dollar". Ok, so the solution is to continue regulating accountability and standards centrally anyway? Why? If we rightly observe that states can effectively accomplish their goals through their own programs, then why can't we allow that states can effectively manage their own accountability and standards too?
So, baby steps, perhaps, in the right direction, maybe we can hope they snowball into something more rational in time... it looks like (potential) good news! Thanks for sharing.
But I am interested in knowing what parts of NCLB the conservative plan would do away with and what parts it would keep.