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No Child Left Behind
Should be Nullified
DJ Deeb
This
past November, Judge Bernard Friedman of the United
States District Court for the Southern Division of the
Eastern District of Michigan dismissed a joint lawsuit
filed by school districts in Texas, Michigan, and Vermont
along with the National Education Association that
attempted to block enforcement of the so-called ‘No
Child Left Behind Act’ [NCLB] on the grounds that it
imposed yearly testing requirements and other mandates
that were unfounded by the Federal Government.
Not only was Judge Friedman out of line in his ruling,
but the Federal Government has no constitutional
jurisdiction over school districts in any curriculum or
policy matter. This absurd ruling creates the need
for states to once again invoke nullification.
The Federal Government provides for less than 7 percent
funding for most public school districts, yet they want
to regulate the majority of local education requirements.
It is high time that all 50 states begin ignoring federal
education mandates and return curriculum and testing
issues to the states themselves and to local school
districts.
States can lead the way by defying the Federal Government
and putting our Federal lawmakers and President Bush back
in their rightful place.
The No Child Left Behind Act [NCLB], enacted in 2001 with
bipartisan support, is bad and costly legislation that
does little to improve overall school performance. Like
the educational systems in Nazi Germany and Fascist
Italy, what it purposes to do is to make our public
school students robotic servants of the National
Government. It’s a one-size fits all educational
monstrosity that shifts power away from parents,
teachers, and school districts and transfers
decision-making to Federal Government bureaucrats, most
of whom know next to nothing about educational curriculum
and instruction.
What does the NCLB mandate?
It contains 1,100 pages on new cumbersome regulations on
states. The most controversial provisions require that
all students in all schools, regardless of race and
ethnicity perform higher on Math and English standardized
tests each year. Failure to achieve national performance
levels can lead to school district sanctions and even
closings.
This may at first sound laudable, but who establishes the
standards? Will it be the same federal bureaucrats at the
U.S. Depart-ment of Education that have been ruining
school districts with their burdensome regulations and
performance mandates over the last 25 years? That’s
where we are heading if we don’t hit the
breaks!
In Massachusetts, we already have the high-stakes MCAS
Test administered in the 4th, 8th, and 10th grades.
Portions of these tests are also given in the 3rd and 7th
grades. Standardized tests can certainly be a good
way to measure progress in learning, but they should not
be the only assessment tool considered. States, with the
input of parents, educational leaders, and local school
districts should be entrusted with this responsibility.
The state of Connecticut, which leads the nation in
overall student performance, and has its own high-stakes
standardized testing system in place, has petitioned the
U.S. Department of Education to permit it to administer
the test every two years instead of annually.
Their request was denied.
What are we doing to our kids? Is the Federal
Government setting them up to be failures? This is what
is really being done in the name of “Education
Reform.”
By the way, why don’t we test these bureaucrats at
the U.S. Department of Education to see if they can pass
the high-stakes test currently in use in Connecticut and
Massachusetts? The results might prove surprising,
or would they?
Here is a brief sampling of the unfunded federal mandates
imposed on local school districts by NCLB: 1) Filing and
meeting requirements for “Adequate Yearly Progress”
eeports on standardized student testing that shows
continuous improvement; 2) Mandatory district school
choice and student transportation without federal
funding; 3) Locally paid for supplemental services for
students deemed “in need of improvement”; and
5) School districts must implement “scientifically
proven” school improvement strategies.
The U.S. Department of Education brags that NCLB gives
“Record flexibility for states and communities.”
It claims that “States will have more freedom to
direct more of their federal education money.” The
U.S. Department of Education adds that NCLB “combines
and simplifies programs” to allow schools to cut
through the “red tape to get and use federal
funding.” These statements are truly
misleading. Let’s look at the facts.
The Act does precisely the opposite of what it claims. It
adds more cost and more red tape by requiring that
lengthy progress reports be filed regularly and often.
The biggest insult to the American public comes with the
U.S. Department of Education’s wording that there
“will be real consequences for districts and schools
that fail to make progress.” The Federal
Government calls the NCLB “groundbreaking education
reform.” It is truly “groundbreaking” in
that it is paving the way for Federal supervisory control
over curriculum and standards and stripping parents,
local school districts, and states of their authority to
manage education choices.
The New Hampshire School Administrators Association
estimated that its state would be eligible for
approximately $77 more per student in federal funds, but
the mandates contained in the law would require almost
$600 more per student. A study of Indiana schools
concluded that per pupil spending would have to increase
by more than 31% in order to comply with the
regulations. Last year, 24 state governors joined
with West Virginia Governor Bob Wise in demanding more
federal funding to pay for NCLB requirements.
Gov. Wise and the governors commented, “We strongly
support accountability and high standards, but we cannot
accept unfunded mandates and broken promises.”
In addition, many states like Oregon are being forced to
eliminate foreign language and music classes in order to
spend money gathering and evaluating information on
standardized tests required by NCLB.
Section 9527 of the NCLB states, “Nothing in this
Act shall be construed to authorize an officer or
employee of the Federal Government to mandate, direct, or
control a State, local educational agency, or school’s
curriculum, program of instruction, or allocation of
state and local resources, or mandate a state or any
subdivision thereof to spend any funds or incur any costs
not paid for under this Act.” Well, surprise,
surprise!
The Act seems to contradict itself. But Judge
Friedman, in his infinite wisdom, ruled that the
plaintiffs to the suit had failed to show that Congress
“intended for these [NCLB] requirements to be paid
for solely by federal appropriations.”
All of this begs the question, What role does the Federal
Government have in regulating public education or the
public schools? The answer is simple, NONE!
Certainly, the Founding Fathers did not intend such a
role, the words “education” or “schools”
are not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. Article
I, Section 8 lists the powers and jurisdiction of
Congress.
“Education” and “schools” are not to
be found. The 10th Amendment states that all of the
powers and responsibilities not afforded the Federal
Government are reserved to the states and to the
people. Historically, when the Federal Government
overstepped its boundaries the states rose up in defiance
by invoking nullification. Nullification refers to
refusal by a state to recognize or enforce a federal law
within its boundaries.
This was first advocated by Thomas Jefferson (author of
the Declaration of Independence) and James Madison (“Father
of the U.S. Constitution”) in the Virginia and
Kentucky Resolutions.
Jefferson claimed that each individual state had the
“natural right” to impose its own authority to
protect its own rights and the rights of citizens.
Madison maintained that when a majority of individual
states agreed that a federal law had violated their 10th
Amendment rights, they could collectively overrule
federal authority. Well, it’s time again for
the states to do just that, individually and collectively
invoke Nullification and disregard the No Child Left
Behind [NCLB] Act.
In addition, while we are at it, it’s time to
abolish the U.S. Department of Education
completely. President Reagan advocated doing this
in 1980.
This will reduce the National deficit by over $45 billion
per year. Education and public schools are strictly
state and local concerns. Educational issues and
public school policy should be debated and decided
strictly at the state and local levels without
interference from Washington D.C. The cry by some
liberals to fund NCLB is not the answer to the
problem. The Act itself is both poorly written and
Unconstitutional. Federal lawmakers need to return
to their proper and defined roles provided for in the
U.S. Constitution.
D.J.
Deeb is an Adjunct Professor of History and Government at
Bunker Hill Community College in Boston, Mass., and at
Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill,
Mass. He holds a Master of Science Degree in
Political Science from Suffolk University and a Master of
Education Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the
University of Massachusetts-Lowell. He also serves
as an elected member of the Greater Lowell Technical
School Committee and the Dracut School Committee in
Dracut, Massachusetts.
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The April -2006 Edition
of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
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All Contents (C) 2006, Valley Patriot, Inc.
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