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Monday, May 30, 2005
Post-Bush, Texas Education System Crumbling
When George W. Bush first ran for President in 2000, he pledged to be the education President. Much of this campaign relied on claims that he had helped fix the Texas education system. Lo and behold, five years after Bush ran for President and a decade after he became Governor of the state, Texas' education system is still in shambles, reports Ralph Blumenthal for The New York Times.
This story underscores an important point, politics aside. The nation's education system is crumbling, and mandating testing without providing necessary funding is not the answer. The simple answer: allocate sufficient money to educate every student. If you want also want testing, so be it, but mone for required standardized tests must be above and beyond the increased money for schools.
This is not just an education issue. This is about economics and national security. Unless American students receive the best education in the world -- not only in colleges and post-graduate programs, but from pre-school on -- we risk falling behind Europe, India and China in my lifetime. The threat is that imminent. So if George Bush actually wants to be known as the education President -- and I believe that he sincerely does -- it's time for him, and the state legislatures across the country, to give our students the money they need to learn.
As they ended their biennial legislative session, Texas lawmakers on Monday earned an "F" from teachers and others for failing a third time in two years to fix a hard-pressed school financing system that a state judge has found unconstitutional.As with many other aspects of the President's record, there is a strong dissonance between rhetoric and reality. Education President is actually an "F" from teachers; WMD in Iraq turns out to be no WMD; tax cuts won't create a deficit becomes tax cuts that in reality bankrupt the country; etc., etc.
Some legislators said Gov. Rick Perry should call another special session, as he did last summer after a failed 2003 effort, for a fourth try. Mr. Perry's predecessor, George W. Bush, met similar setbacks in efforts to restructure school financing.
[...]
Texas [ranks] last among the states in high school graduation rates and faring poorly on other education and social service indexes. [emphasis added]
This story underscores an important point, politics aside. The nation's education system is crumbling, and mandating testing without providing necessary funding is not the answer. The simple answer: allocate sufficient money to educate every student. If you want also want testing, so be it, but mone for required standardized tests must be above and beyond the increased money for schools.
This is not just an education issue. This is about economics and national security. Unless American students receive the best education in the world -- not only in colleges and post-graduate programs, but from pre-school on -- we risk falling behind Europe, India and China in my lifetime. The threat is that imminent. So if George Bush actually wants to be known as the education President -- and I believe that he sincerely does -- it's time for him, and the state legislatures across the country, to give our students the money they need to learn.
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