[veronica]

The Education Failure By every measure, public education under Giuliani stagnated or got worse. Reading and math scores deteriorated. Classroom overcrowding grew worse. The high school dropout rate has risen during the past three years. In 2001, in the citywide eighth-grade math test only 45 percent of white students met the standards, 14 percent of Latinos and 12 percent of blacks. This is well below the standards of other big cities. Giuliani did nothing to shift resources into the poorer districts. In 1999 he diverted funds for improving school facilities from Brooklyn and the Bronx (more minority and working class) to Staten Island and Queens (more white and middle class), where the borough presidents supported him politically. In eight years, Giuliani's most famous comment about public education was that the school system should be "blown up."

I guess if you think that throwing more and more money at the public school system, (which now teaches children about global warming and other such liberal pet projects) is the way to go, then you will agree with The Nation and disagree with Rudy.

If you think that redistribution of taxpayer money, rather than bringing teaching standards up is the way to go, then you will agree with The Nation and disagree with Rudy.

If you can't see the liberal spin that permeates this entire article, then I cannot help you separate fact from fiction.

[CharlesWayneCT]

No, we think that a solid conservative Mayor, given 8 years, would improve the school system without having to spend a lot more money.

Giuliani seems to have gotten the "not spend more money on education" part right, but he missed the "improve the schools" part.

Do you think the job of mayor is to leave the schools performing worse than other cities?

We measure our conservative local elected officials in part on how well our school system educates our children without wasting money doing so.