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Washington – It could the beginning of the end for No Child Left Behind.

The goal was lofty: Get all children up to par in math and reading by 2014. But the nation isn’t getting there, and now some are getting out.

Ten states including Kentucky, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Tennessee have received a waiver from the law. Twenty-eight other states have signaled that they too, plan to flee the law in favor of their own plans.

Kentucky will use ACT college-entrance exams and other assessments by that company in its measures.

These states had to commit to their own, federally approved plans, will now be free, for example, to judge students with methods other than test scores. They also will be able to factor in subjects beyond reading and math.

…educational and civic rights groups questioned if schools would be getting a pass on aggressively helping poor and minority children—the kids the 2002 law was primarily designed to end.

Obama grants 10 states “No Child” law waivers. By Kimberly Hefling Associated Press. THE ENQUIRER Feb. 10, 2012 A4

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In the shadow of yesterday’s disastrous Wall Street meltdown and President Barack Obama’s address to the nation, a lesser-noticed piece of news emerged from the Obama Administration: By executive fiat, the White House is once again circumventing Congress in the name of advancing the President’s agenda.

It’s a story we’ve heard before. Where President Obama can’t legislate, he will use executive branch action to accomplish his agenda. In the past, he has applied that tactic in the auto bailout, EPA regulations, and Obamacare. Now he’s using this approach to remake No Child Left Behind (NCLB)—the most significant K-12 education law—by granting states conditional waivers from the onerous provisions of NCLB in exchange for adopting a yet-to-be-specified set of executive branch education policy priorities. The news came in an announcement from the Department of Education:

With the new school year fast approaching and still no bill to reform the federal education law known as No Child Left Behind, the Obama administration will provide a process for states to seek relief from key provisions of the law, provided that they are willing to embrace education reform.

The Department of Education is taking this unilateral action in order to insulate schools from NCLB’s unintended consequences. NCLB requires all students to be proficient in English and math by 2014, a worthwhile but unrealistic goal that is placing federal heat on schools. As a result, states and local school leaders have been focused on compliance with Washington, not the needs of the children they teach. Heritage’s Lindsey Burke explains that “the waiver route is a bad precedent that neither provides long-term relief for states nor solves the underlying problem with accountability, which would be more effective if directed to parents, not bureaucrats.” Burke writes:

Circumventing Congress by granting states conditions-based waivers will exacerbate Washington’s decades-long history of failure at improving educational outcomes. In fact, the Administration’s NCLB “blueprint” is NCLB on steroids—ballooning the federal role in education by calling for resource equity among schools and national standards and tests.

One might think that if there is a problem with NCLB, then the President would look to Congress to change the law. But the legislative process on this 600-page law hasn’t moved fast enough for his liking, so the Administration has resorted to the quick-fix waivers to make the change it believes in. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) came to the White House’s defense, blaming House Republicans for slowing down the legislative process and saying that it’s justifiable for the President to act on his own accord:

This Congress faces real challenges reaching bipartisan, bicameral agreement on anything. Given the ill-advised and partisan bills that the House majority has chosen to move, I understand Secretary Duncan’s decision to proceed with a waiver package to provide some interim relief while Congress finishes its work.

Though Carney says the White House will “work together to get significant things done,” the Administration’s actions on education this week aren’t reflective of that sentiment. In fact, they fly squarely in the face of proposals in Congress to restore state and local control over education and to begin reducing the federal role in education. Burke explains that the House Education and the Workforce Committee has completed significant work on major proposals to restore state control over education and put power in the hands of those closer to the student. But putting power in the hands of the people is not the Obama Administration’s goal. Instead, it wants to extend Washington’s tentacles into local schools.

The federal government has totally failed to improve America’s educational outcomes, and now the Obama Administration has grabbed the wheel of government and is steering us further down a dead-end road. Instead of more Washington red tape, states need more control over their schools. Conditional waivers for NCLB aren’t the answer. Instead, Congress should allow states to completely opt out of NCLB through proposals that are approved by Congress. Meanwhile, the White House might want to take a lesson in constitutional governance.

Source:

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.  Washington — The Obama administration effectively gutted the Bush-era No Child Left Behind law Monday, giving states a way out of a decade-long policy that focused on holding schools accountable but labeled many of them failures even if they made progress.
.  To get a waiver from the program however, states must agree to host of education reforms the White House favors – from tougher evaluation systems for teachers and principals to programs tacking the achievement gap for minority students.
.  The federal law, which requires every student to be proficient in science and math by 2014, is four years past due for reauthorization.
..(Education Secretary) Duncan has warned that 82 percent of U.S. schools could be labeled failures next year if the law is not changed. Education experts have questioned that estimate but state officials report a growing number of schools facing sanctions under the law – from having to offer free tutoring to being forced to shut down entirely.
.  Source: Obama offers No Child waivers Associated Press Published in The Enquirer 8/9/11 A1