Republicans Applauded by a Democratic Lawmaker for Supporting Obama's Educational Agenda

On the heels of our last posting, Republicans are Supporting the Federal Takeover of Education, a blogger in Nashville confirmed (from a Democratic congressman's lips) the alliance of conservative Republican legislators and Obama's educational plan.  From Enclave:

Democrat Jim Cooper celebrates conservatives supporting President Obama on charter schools

Congressman Jim Cooper has been making the interview rounds. Yesterday he met with the press and characterized the feather in Obama's domestic cap as charter schools:

In domestic policy, it's amazing what you find here. If you talk to folks in Nashville, some of the most conservative folks in Nashville who are, for example, charter school advocates, real education reform advocates, are thrilled with Obama. Thrilled. And [Education Secretary] Arne Duncan has done a great job, and this isn't just Race To The Top money, but it's an amazing change in policy at the federal level with very little fanfare, that Congress didn't have anything to do with, really.

Those of us who are not "real education reform advocates", that is those of us who question the warping influence of venture philanthropy wealth in public education, are not quite as thrilled as the conservatives and Rep. Cooper is with President Obama move to the right. (Photo credit: The Entrepreneur Center). 

We aren't the only ones mystified about this marriage of conservatives and progressives.  Charters (privatization) and amazing changes at the federal level (nationalization of standards and unconstitutional powers to the Department of Education) are the educational reforms du jour.  Both of these "reforms" take power away from the taxpayers. 

Are you starting to believe this is an alliance of the elite?  No wonder Congressman Cooper, Jeb Bush, Obama, Arne Duncan, School Choice Week, and other educational reform proponents are celebrating.  It's fun having all the money and power.  The taxpayers are mandated to pay for unproven, untested, underfunded and unconstitutional mandates that result in a financial windfall for the companies providing services for the mandates.

Congressman Cooper states the change in federal policy had very little fanfare.  He's correct.  The circumvention of existing FERPA laws was accomplished via regulatory action allowing invasive personal data on children to be shared with other federal agencies and private organizations.  Instead of celebrating, Congressman Cooper and other state legislators should be fighting tooth and nail to make certain their citizens are not forced to share their personal data with the government.
 
I'm not holding my breath. 

Republicans are Supporting the Federal Takeover of Education. How to Register Your Displeasure with the Republican Leadership.

This picture of Obama, Arne Duncan and Jeb Bush illustrates the bipartisanship present in the current educational reforms pushed by the current administration.  

We keep asking the question: Why are Republicans backing the federal centralization of education?  Aren't Republicans supposed to be the party of small government and individual liberty?  Haven't we heard the Republican politicians on the state and national level state decry Obamacare because of the mandates impinging on individual choice?  Aren't Republicans supposed to be from the party not aligning itself with increased centralization?  What's the difference between the takeover of healthcare and the takeover of education?


Why are Republicans such as Jeb Bush wrapping themselves in the educational mandates in Race to the Top or the Educational Reforms Formerly Known as Race to the Top?  These mandates are from Arne Duncan and are nothing but the Federal Government directing public education on all levels to the point where local school districts are ruled impotent and useless.  This impotence and uselessness of legal institutions and officials reminds me of the current stance of state legislators.  They state, "Oh, it's all the Board of Education's doing.  Oh, it's all the governor's fault.  Oh, it's not OUR fault we have mandates the state can't afford.  Oh, we think centralization is a good thing, don't you worry about it, it will all be fine".  

They refuse to act on not implementing the standards or refuse to fund unconstitutional programs that plunge us into more debt.  They look at voters and shrug their shoulders.  I'm thinking we might as well have mandates to do away with the state legislature since it can't apparently have any influence or power in standing up against federal regulations and mandates.  Taxpayers might as well save the money paying state legislator salaries as they aren't apparently interested in protecting the state constitution from federal intrusion.

Many of our legislators want to expand charters and expand Teach for America which will take school decisions out of local districts' hands (and taxpayers) and give them to private companies and DESE.  Once again, public money is being used to fund education via agencies and companies unaccountable to the taxpayers.  Are you feeling good about this scenario?  Why aren't the legislators on the state level acting to keep us out of debt and increased federal control? 


This lack of action has been noted by a former teacher and writer in California.  Doug Lasken has written a great piece calling Republican politicians to task for their refusal to confront this educational nightmare head on.  It's time to call these politicians to task for supporting this administration's disastrous educational policy:

Stop the Department of Education’s Power Grab

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Doug  Lasken

Here’s my bio: I am a retired LA Unified teacher of 25 years, currently coaching debate at a private school (I also teach writing in Korea each summer through the UCLA Writing Project) and I have consulted for a number of research institutes, including Fordham, Pioneer, and WestEd .  I have been politically active in the “education wars” for many years, starting in the 80′s when, as a classroom teacher, I was told never to teach English to Hispanic students (per so-called “bilingual education”), never to teach grammar, spelling or phonics (per Whole Language), and never to use direct instruction for science (per “constructivist” philosophy).  I have freelanced many articles across the county on these subjects and am now engaged in opposing the Common Core standards, a colossal cash cow that will do virtually nothing for American education..  This petition represents my current level of frustration with the GOP for not acting as the opposition party it is supposed to be against Obama’s corrupt and ill-advised education initiatives..

Best, Doug Lasken

We the undersigned do not agree on all things, but we are in close agreement on education, and in particular these five propositions:

1.  The federal government is barred by the United States Constitution from imposing academic standards and public school curricula on the states, the very thing it is attempting to do through the Obama administration programs Race to the Top (RttT) and the Common Core Standards(CCS).

2. In addition to imposing standards and curriculum on the states, RttT mandates that states collect extensive and detailed personal information on students, and that this information be submitted to the federal Department of Education, from which it will be available to other agencies.  We oppose this on Constitutional grounds.

3. The national price tag for CCS is estimated at $30 billion (and perhaps as much as $210 billion) most of which cost is to be borne by the states. This money will enrich special interests- publishing and testing empires- but will do virtually nothing to save America’s bankrupted public schools. The undersigned believe that spending $30 billion on standards is like painting a car before junking it- good for the painters, a useless expense for the car owner.

4.  The news media has decided that since conservatives object to spending money, and since conservative views are represented in the Republican party, then people who object to RttT and CCS must be represented by the Republican party.  The undersigned have found, however, that the Republican party, as distinct from individual candidates, does not represent those seeking sound education policy.  Time and again, at all levels from local to federal,the undersigned have encountered ignorance and indifference regarding RttT and CCS from the Republican party and the people it has helped to achieve office.  Republicans as much as Democrats have been seduced by the $30 billion and slick sales talk into acquiescence to RttT and CCS.  The news media is oblivious to this.

5. Therefore, we the undersigned here state that the Republican party does not represent our views on American education, that the Republican party is in fact aligned with the Democratic party in pushing through wasteful and highly problematic Democratic programs, and that we therefore disavow allegiance to and support of the Republican party in its policies towards education, and we ask that the media acknowledge that this diminution of Republican support has occurred.

If you would like to sign this petition, write to Doug Lasken at dlasken514@aol.com

Call Us Crazy. ..but the Words and the Intentions are Clear. A Nationalized Curriculum Coming Soon to a School Near You?

Last night we wrote about disappearing local school district curricula. Where is the local control of curriculum going? It is being aligned along the P20 spectrum into the postsecondary education level per the "P20 Curriculum Alignment Steering Committee" from the Missouri Department of Higher Education.

Tonight let's look at another step down the road toward the takeover of education by the Federal government. Neal McCluskey from Cato has a terrific article about the national standards coming soon to a school near you:


Hey, National Curriculum Standardizers: Stop Lying to Us!
Posted by Neal McCluskey

Today, a group of seventy-five national-standards crusaders released a manifesto calling for "shared curriculum guidelines" to accompany the Common Core State Standards. But don't worry, the petitioners assure us, "use of the kinds of curriculum guidelines that we advocate in the core academic subjects would be purely voluntary."

Oh please, please -- stop lying to us!

Here's the only absolutely clear thing that we've learned so far from the national standards push: Leading national standardizers do not want adoption of their plans to be truly voluntary.

Sure, they talk about creating mere "guidelines," and states being free to choose what they'll use, but they know reality full well: Whatever Washington connects to federal money becomes de facto mandatory, and they most certainly want their guidelines riveted to federal bucks.

Don't believe me? Look no further than the federal Race to the Top program, which required that states adopt what for much of the time were unpublished national standards in order to meaningfully compete for part of $4.35 billion in federal dough.

"But wait", standards mavens assert. "We didn't ask for that and we really regret that the administration federalized our warm-and-fuzzy voluntary effort."

Sorry, no dice. Many of these same people had been calling for federal funds to push national standards before there ever was a Race to the Top, or even an official Obama administration. In December 2008, national standards advocates put out Benchmarking for Success: Ensuring Students Receive a World-class Education, which among other things called for Washington to "offer a range of tiered incentives to make the next stage of the journey [toward national standards] easier."

In this latest assault on honesty, the national standards crowd has done it again. You have to read their entire statement, but at the bottom you'll find words that make it clear that "the undersigned" have no intention of having adoption of their guidelines be truly voluntary. They want Washington forcing states to eat the new curricula if states want back some of the money that came involuntarily from their citizens. The last of their "recommendations" calls for:

7. Increasing federal investments in implementation support, in comparative international studies related to curriculum and instruction, and in evaluations aimed at finding the most effective curriculum sequences, curriculum materials, curricular designs, and instructional strategies.

You want this to be truly voluntary? Then you'd better keep federal money, especially for such things as "implementation support," out of it. But by all indications national standardizers don't want this to be truly voluntary. They just want us thinking they do.

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Remember the "recommendation" McCluskey refers to above...just wait until you see what is in the Memorandum of Understanding Jay Nixon (Governor) and Chris Nicastro (Commissioner of Education) signed in August 2009 for acceptance of the Common Core Standards. It truly is a federal takeover of education based on the memorandum. We'll be posting on exactly what Missouri signed away to the Federal Government in a couple of days.