Thompson: Leave 'No Child Left Behind' behind

Baltimore Sun ^ | 9/13/2007 | Mark Silva

[George W. Bush]

Thompson: Leave 'No Child Left Behind' behind

by Mark Silva

Sometimes, it doesn't take long for a party to disavow the gains of its own leaders. And sometimes, candidates regret their own votes.

...

Today, Fred Thompson, the former senator from Tennessee and television and film star who has entered the campaign for the Republican Party presidential nomination in 2008, suggested that it's time to leave No Child Left Behind behind. Thompson, campaignining in Florida -- where the president's brother, former Gov. Jeb Bush, also had made public school funding contingent on public school performance -- suggested that the federal government has gotten too involved.

And there is a certain irony in his position. As a senator, in 2001, Thompson voted for the president's No Child Left Behind Act -- as did most senators on both sides of the aisle. ...

"We've been spending increasing amounts of federal money for decades, with increasing rules, increasing mandates, increasing regulations," Thompson said. "It's not working."

He added that there are problems with the program itself. ...

Instead, he said, the federal government should be providing block grants as long as states set up objective testing programs.

A woman asked what he would do for education. He told her decisions on how schools are run should be made by local and state decisions, not dictated out of Washington.

"It's your responsibility," he said. "If you don't like what's going on, don't get in your car and drive by your school board and maybe drive by the capitol and get on an airplane and fly to Washington and say, 'I don't like the way the school down the street is being run."'

[George W. Bush]

Now this I like to hear from Fred. In the latter part of the Xlinton regime, this same failed notion of nationalizing the schools was defeated repeatedly and soundly by Henry Hyde and Ron Paul. Looks like Fred is recognizing that it is a failure, just as everything designed by Teddy Kennedy is a failure.

Block granting it still isn't ideal. But you have to chip away at it first and you have to campaign against it as a political idea. The contrast with the rest of the GOP field is striking (except for Ron Paul's policy to strictly eliminate it altogether along with the Department of Education).

There was an earlier thread on this but I think this one has more meat to it. I especially like the way Fred spoke to the topic as a matter of local control over schools and the insanity of trying to run to D.C. to fix the bad school down the street. It shows some sound instincts and a willingness to back away from bad policy.

So, score one here for Fred. He's singing the small-government tune pretty well compared to most of the other GOP candidates.

[pnh102]

This is an excellent policy position. NCLB has to be the single worst thing to happen to public schooling in recent memory.

[tiki]

He’ll probably get a LOT of teachers voting for him.

[George W. Bush]

I note Fred turning to the Gingrich block-grant strategy. This helps eliminate the growth of the federal Department of Education with its one-size-fits-none programs which always redistribute wealth and pass along what's left after they take their cut back to the states along with other requirements which then force the states' to raise taxes. It's more of the usual carrot-and-stick policy we've seen with so many other programs.

Better to abolish it altogether of course. But you have to recognize and offer some praise for Fred's position here. The question is why the rest of the GOP candidates won't step up to the plate (except for RP as I mentioned but I don't want to discuss RP on this thread because this is a Fredthread).

Fred said this in Florida, where Jeb has pushed the NCLB and testing program in concert with GWB's federal effort. So Fred is taking on the failed Bush/Kennedy policy in a key state. It shows some political courage from Fred.

[Tennessean4Bush]

NCLB has to be the single worst thing to happen to public schooling in recent memory.

Give me a break. Too many on this board cannot keep the hyperbole in check.

Look, I agree with Fred Thompson and probably most of the people on this board that the federal government should get out of everything that they are not supposed to be in because they end up screwing virtually anything up that they try to manage. I am with Fred on federalism. But "The single worst thing to happen to public schooling in recent memory..."

[Tennessean4Bush]

So you would rank the teachers unions where?

[grellis]

I don’t know about hyperbole. I can’t think of one single thing, in recent memory, that has harmed public schools more than NCLB. Can you?

[pnh102]

But "The single worst thing to happen to public schooling in recent memory..."

How is my statement wrong? NCLB is simply the latest problem with public education. Teachers unions, liberal indoctrination and other such things had been going on since long before NCLB. Hence, when NCLB came around, it became the single worst thing to happen to public schooling in recent memory.

[SQUID]

Teachers Unions

[greyfoxx39]

My school-teacher daughter will love Fred for this.

[A_perfect_lady]

I've been urging our principal to consider rejecting the federal funds (that is an option.) I mean, we get a million dollars a year, most of which seems to go to stuff that I consider a total waste, like these elaborate agenda/planners that the kids are supposed to carry around (but they don't), and I'm pretty sure that horrid HighPoint ESL program is funded by it... and then the kids get tested and tested to see if that million is doing any good.

And year after year we find that the white and Asian kids are doing fine and the black and Latino kids aren't... but out of the last nine weeks, we spent three weeks on various standardized tests!! I can hardly believe anyone thinks it's a good idea to teach them for six weeks and then test, test, and test some more...

[taxcontrol]

We implemented a testing program in Colorado and it has been an invaluable tool for parents and has provided performance data to make adjustments.

While I understand the need for a pay for performance type system, the fundamental question is “what is the role of the government”.

First, I do not believe that the Federal government should be sending money to school districts for education ... but that is a topic for a different thread.

Second, I do believe that the government should be establishing standardized testing for a nationally recognized HS diploma.

[McGruff]

"We've been spending increasing amounts of federal money for decades, with increasing rules, increasing mandates, increasing regulations," Thompson said. "It's not working."

This is outrageous. He wants less gov't? Who was the last president who was for less gov't?

[AmericanMade1776]

Everyone talks about the weather but doesn’t do anything about it.

[TomGuy]

He was for it, before he was against it, but that's okay because he is a Republican.
[/s]

He has been for several issues, before he was against them: CFR, border and immigration, etc.

It seems most of the whole bunch of wannabes -- Dems and Pubbies -- are flipflopping worse than a school of mackerels at an assembly on dry land.

[George W. Bush]

We implemented a testing program in Colorado and it has been an invaluable tool for parents and has provided performance data to make adjustments.

Fine. That's Colorado's business and their voters.

First, I do not believe that the Federal government should be sending money to school districts for education ... but that is a topic for a different thread. Second, I do believe that the government should be establishing standardized testing for a nationally recognized HS diploma.

Well, you hold two different positions in as many sentences. Not too persuasive. But then, I am one of many Xlinton-era FReepers who fought the Xlinton/Kennedy NCLB before it became the Bush/Kennedy NCLB. So I don't have an open mind on the topic.

[underground]

Some extra random facts on why nationalizing the schools won’t work:

-We won two world wars and came to be the world’s leading economy before one penny of federal money was spent on education

-LBJ was the first American socialist to federally fund k-12 education

-After major increases of federal money under Bush, only about 6% of education costs are paid by D.C.

[George W. Bush]

He has been for several issues, before he was against them: CFR, border and immigration, etc.

It was Bush who led us down this path. In many instances like NCLB and the Pill Bill, arms were twisted hard, threats made against them about running opponents against them in the primaries, cutting off RNC funds, etc.

That doesn't completely excuse them from their own responsibility for their votes. But it is a mitigating factor. At the time, many conservatives caved in, reasoning that party unity was more important. In fact, it wasn't and some of them have learned that Reagan was right about these programs.

I'm not going to kick someone who flipflops toward my position, provided they have a convincing explanation and repudiate the failed policy of Xlinton, Bush, etc.

[Hydroshock]

My wife will like this, she is a teacher. If I had a dollar for every time I heard her or another one rale against “Every Child Takes One In The Behind” as my wife calls it, I would be debt free in a new 3000 Sq ft house with 2 new cars.

[taxcontrol]

Sending money to school districts and establishing a standard test for a nationally recognized HS diploma are two very different things.