Report Says Schools Lack Funding to Comply with NCLB

NEA: Report Says Schools Lack Funding to Comply with NCLB

"NEA President Reg Weaver said, "It should come as no surprise that schools are having a hard time meeting the one size fits all standards of the law."

"In an official statement , Weaver also said, "Lawmakers say they want accountability, they want results, but they won't back up the rhetoric. Schools are already hurting because No Child Left Behind has been underfunded by approximately $40 billion. Now, Congress is talking about cutting even more, as part of the biggest cuts in the history of the Education Department as proposed by the president. If these lawmakers aren't held accountable for these cuts, students are going to feel the impact for years to come.""

It should come as no suprise that the Congress has no stomach for spending tax dollars on education should also mandate standards and performance for schools. Votes are important and the idea of school reform, higher standards, accountability and the like play well with the average American voter.

When Reg Weaver calls for lawmakers to be held accountable that cry will fall on deaf ears in the Congress. When have lawmakers ever been held accountable? While I recognize the overtones of bombast in this last statement, what is clear to me is that there is a double standard in this country: the powerful tend to bully the powerless. Schools and schoolchildren are among the least powerful members of our society. Teachers are underpaid and overworked. Students are treated as objects in a game of chess. The force of education is to prepare students to take their place in the economic life of the country when the real purpose of schooling must be to know when and how to defend the constitutional liberties afforded us all, the powerful and the powerless. That element is and has been missing in our society for quite some time. Perhaps it is time to get it back.