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Showdown Over NCLB Continues
Utah's Republican state senators love President Bush, but not his
No Child Left Behind educational initiative. The Senate GOP caucus
has sent a letter to the president explaining their position on
NCLB. They warn that without some federal accommodation, they will
likely pass HB135 in the April 20 special session. Here is the text
of the letter:
“The State of Utah shares the U.S. Department of Education's passion
for excellent education. We are extremely interested in strategies
that will help, not hinder, our children and our schools.
“The carefully considered belief of the Utah State Senate is that
any effective education strategy will respect America's essential
historic balance between centralized power and local right as expressed
in the 10th Amendment to our Constitution.
“For this and several other reasons, the dictates of No Child Left
Behind have caused grave concern. We are prepared to pass House
Bill 135, which we believe is reasonable, fair and necessary.
“Governor Huntsman has indicated to us that more time may give
all parties an opportunity to come to an agreement. We sincerely
hope that he is right. We are acutely aware there has been little
movement in that direction since we raised our concerns a year ago.
At the governor's request, however, we have agreed to wait until
April 20, 2005 for a final vote on HB 135.
“A top priority of our education system must be to empower parents
to utilize local control and community goals. At a minimum, we are
looking for a written statement that assures the State of Utah full
control of governance and accountability measures in Utah's schools.
In addition, we need local control of educator qualification, certification
and licensure.
“Please understand our intention is not to thwart the goals of
NCLB but to improve on them and enhance them, appropriate to our
local situation. If NCLB continues on its current course, however,
we believe we have an obligation to pass HB 135 as it is now written.
“Thank you for your hard work and consideration. We remain committed
to the spirit of ensuring all children receive the education they
need.”
Reader Response on NCLB
Tuesday’s Utah Policy Daily item on NCLB and my comments
that schools should be locally controlled by parents and teachers
(but not by teacher unions) elicited these two thoughtful responses:
Kristina Narvaez: “I have become increasingly aware in researching
the educational goals of the individual school districts in Utah
how many of our students are not being challenged in their schools.
Too many of our Utah students are coming home from school with little
or no homework. Many of our students are taking classes that will
not help get into a college or university of their choice. The time
has passed where a high school graduate could land a decent job
and afford buying their own home. In today's workplace, a college
degree is a must in order to have at least a middle class income.
“Too many of our high school graduates are not adequately prepared
for the demands of college. We are looking at a 50% drop out rate
of those who first enroll in college courses to those who actually
finish their degrees. I know many of the teachers in Utah are not
in favor of the President's " No Child Left Behind Act". But the
question I pose to the teachers is are you against the President's
initiative because your method of teaching is more effective or
you don't want to push your students because it requires more work
on your part.
“I think in all school districts in Utah there should be more college
prep classes offered and none just offered to a selected few. All
school districts should have a majority of their students signed
up for AP and honors classes. Let's raise the bar in our public
school system and truly challenge our students to take classes that
will help them in their critical thinking, problem solving skills,
verbal and math skills.”
David McNaughtan: “How do you separate teachers from 'teachers
unions.' The teachers are what make up the teachers union. I have
taught for 8 years. If the teachers union in Utah is so powerful
how come we are still funded dead last and with a masters degree
I make less than $40,000. I am tired of hearing about the power
of the union when we get nothing for it. It is sad when the only
thing we can do as teachers is fight bad legislation and constantly
be viewed as negative. The teachers are usually the only thing united
when it comes to public education. Don't push them away, pull them
in and ask for help. We want what is best for all public education
not just one single part of education. Thank you.”
National Politics
Leading Demos Posture for Nomination
In his weekly e-mail column (sign up here)
National Journal’s Charlie Cook writes about Democratic posturing
for the 2008 presidential nomination. Here is the column:
"With the NCAA basketball tournament about to begin, perhaps
"March Madness" is an appropriate metaphor to describe the competition
for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.
"Think of the NCAA brackets, but on one side, Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton of New York gets byes all the way to the finals.
On the other side, there could easily be a half dozen or more Democrats
contending for the chance to take on Clinton. Of course, it is not
certain Clinton will run, but she is laying the groundwork for a
campaign.
"In some ways, Clinton does not have an opponent. Her obstacle
boils down to this simple question: Can she win a general election?
As the most polarizing figure in the Democratic Party, there is
a tendency to love her or hate her, although among Democratic partisans
the ratio of lovers to haters is very high.
"If it were a simple question of who Democrats would like
to be their nominee for president, Clinton is the clear favorite.
In a Dec. 17-19 Associated Press/Ipsos Public Affairs survey of
399 Democratic primary voters nationwide (with a five-point error
margin) 33 percent chose Clinton; 19 percent picked Massachusetts
Sen. John Kerry; 15 percent preferred Kerry's running mate, former
North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and 11 percent pointed to retired
Gen. Wesley Clark, who also sought the Democratic nod last year.
Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico had 3 percent; Sens. Evan Bayh
of Indiana and Russell Feingold of Wisconsin had 2 and 1 percent,
respectively, while Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack had 1 percent. Gov. Mark
Warner of Virginia and Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden were asterisks,
denoting support of less than 1 percent.
"Historically, electability has not been a strong factor in
determining who wins the nomination. It has become a byproduct,
however, of the intense partisan polarization that exists today.
Thus, the desire to field the person thought to have the best chance
of winning is high. Ironically, Kerry, who turned out to be a considerably
less than optimal candidate in 2004, was picked because he was seen
as more electable than Howard Dean.
"Among the larger 839 registered voters in that same December
AP/Ipsos poll, respondents were asked if they would continue to
support their candidate if they felt that the person could not win
the general election, or would they find another candidate they
agreed with who could possibly win. Forty-nine percent stuck with
their first choice, while a whopping 46 percent defected.
"Thus, Clinton's job is to convince Democrats she can win
a general election.
"Clearly, Clinton sees her problem and is trying to address
it. Take her effort to seek a middle ground on abortion rights,
one of the most polarizing issues in American politics today. The
truth is that she is not as liberal as widely perceived. Clinton
was one of the strongest supporters of the war in Iraq among Democrats
in the Senate.
"According to National Journal's ratings, she is more liberal
than 71 percent of the Senate, ranking her the 34th most liberal
Senate Democrat. She is less liberal than Minority Whip Richard
Durbin, Feingold and Biden, but more liberal than Minority Leader
Harry Reid, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Bayh. But Clinton
is anything but a blank slate, and the perception that she is liberal
is fixed in the public's mind.
"While Kerry probably has some support left over from the
last campaign, some of his backing is probably from Democrats who
do not support Clinton but cannot name an alternate. After all,
he is the best known potential candidate after Clinton. Whether
Kerry can hold onto that when alternatives become better known remains
to be seen, but my hunch is voters will want to move on to fresher
faces.
"Although Edwards has enormous raw political talent, he was
hampered by his youthful appearance and meager political resume.
Four years and a few more gray hairs will likely help a lot, but
can one term in the Senate fix the resume issue?
"It will also be interesting to see whether Edwards attempts
to reposition himself in any way. On the stump last year his message
seemed to come very close to invoking class warfare, in sharp contrast
to the more centrist message that worked so well for Bill Clinton
in 1992 and 1996. With well over three-quarters of Americans considering
themselves to be in the middle class, the math on the pure populist
approach is not that great.
"Clark dealt with learning the ropes of a new business while
campaigning, a problem faced by all first-time candidates for high
office. His performance was both hot and cold. With one presidential
campaign under his belt, it is entirely possible he will have honed
his campaign skills enough to do considerably better next time.
"Feingold and perhaps Biden will seek to be the "liberal-but-less-controversial-than-Clinton"
candidates in the race, while on the centrist side, Richardson,
Bayh, Vilsack and Warner are all vying to be the moderate choice.
"The problem for each of these candidates is that while excitement
and danger are very closely associated traits, acceptable and dull
are at the other extreme and often go hand in hand. The challenge
for them is to be acceptable to wide numbers of Democrats while
offering up enough excitement and energy to draw attention and support."
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