Bush’s ‘No child left behind’ plan abandons majority of students

After only three days in the White House, illegitimate President “Dubya� Bush officially unveiled his national education plan, titled “No child left behind.� It is a close call on what will actually be adopted by the narrowly divided House and 50/50 Senate. On the campaign trail, Bush prided himself as the “education president.� We all predicted that what he meant by that was the dismantling of public ed as we know it, but who figured it would come so soon?

After only three days in the White House, illegitimate President “Dubya� Bush officially unveiled his national education plan, titled “No child left behind.� It is a close call on what will actually be adopted by the narrowly divided House and 50/50 Senate. On the campaign trail, Bush prided himself as the “education president.� We all predicted that what he meant by that was the dismantling of public ed as we know it, but who figured it would come so soon?Bush’s vague education plan uses popular buzz words like “school choice,� accountability and standards. The schemes behind these words are another story.

Under Bush’s plan, Title I funds, which are supposed to aid schools with low income students, would be given as vouchers to parents to send their students to private schools. Title I money would not cover tuition to most private institutions and many parents can’t make up the difference in cost. This not only cripples public schools but at the same time drains federal Title I money from needy schools.

Bush’s plan calls for yearly testing in math and reading for grades 3-8. This puts teachers and students under the gun and is an effective tactic used to discredit progress made in public education. Both Democrats and Republicans have come to equate accountability with standardized testing.With Bush’s plan, failing public schools would be required to meet “performance goals� after a three-year period. If standards are not met, Bush plans to give $1,500 vouchers to all students in a failing school (with no mention in the plan of where the funds are going to come from) instead of investing the funds back into the school to benefit the whole.

Bush plans not only to offer vouchers, which will benefit only a few, but to put funding “sanctions� on schools that don’t meet standards. There are no provisions for channeling money back into failing schools to make improvements such as class size reduction, teacher training and materials.

Bush also proposes eliminating all requirements on who can open up charter schools. This means for-profit corporations can open schools and non-union, inexperienced staff can potentially be hired. Education is a multi-billion dollar industry that the private sector can’t wait to profit from. Bush specifically states that government money will go towards start-up costs, facilities and “other needs� for charter schools in exchange for these schools keeping track of progress. However, these schools are not currently required to even participate in state testing.

Just after releasing his education plan, Bush said at a Washington, DC elementary school, “The quality of a school depends on the quality of a principal. When you find a good principal, a CEO of a school, you find a school that achieves what we all want.� This shows that Bush confuses schools with corporations.

With provisions in the plan for states to give money to religious organizations to start up after-school programs, for non-union private contractors to get government bonds for school construction and for requiring states to adopt racist “zero tolerance� policies in order to receive funds for violence prevention programs, it’s clear that “No child left behind� leaves students in the dirt.