[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.

[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.

[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.

[Spiff]

December 18, 2001

Thompson Praises Final Passage of Education Bill

WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN) today voted for final passage of The Leave No Child Behind Act, legislation based on President Bush's education reform proposal.

"The Leave No Child Behind Act sets an important new direction for federal education policy," Thompson said. "The combination of flexibility, accountability, and choice provided by the Act is a significant step towards ensuring that all of our students receive a quality education.

"The legislation enhances local control by providing unprecedented flexibility in the ways that states and local communities can spend federal education dollars," Thompson said. "It increases parental involvement by providing new choices to parents of children in failing schools and in bilingual education programs, and it strives to ensure results by requiring testing to determine how our schools are doing and corrective actions when those tests show that our schools are not serving our children. This bipartisan bill is an important accomplishment for the President and will make a real difference in the lives of our schoolchildren."

[mnehring]

Ping

[the lastbestlady]

Go Fred!!

[af_vet_rr]

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."'

I like the sound of that - I can excuse him for voting on it in the first place if he's willing to do something about it if he made it to office.

[redgirlinabluestate]

He's singing the small-government tune pretty well

Yeah, singing a new tune on this issue, according to post #21.

[Paige]

Now for the FAIR TAX

[asparagus]

Let’s throw millions of dollars into a project. Then, before we have enough data to conclude whether its a success we abandon the project and spend millions more on a different project. See any similarities here to Iraq?

[firebrand]

Freddie just lost me. The only problem with NCLB is it didn’t go far enough. Too many compromises were made the first time around. We should have a national curriculum. Otherwise just forget about competing with the rest of the world.