Bill Clinton: Fix Bush Education Law

TEMPE, Ariz. — Former President Clinton said that if his wife is elected president she would radically change the "No Child Left Behind Act," which he described as an education disaster initially supported not only by President Bush, but liberal icon Ted Kennedy.

Clinton's association of Kennedy with the No Child Left Behind Act _ a federal education law unpopular with public school teachers, a key Democratic party constituency _ came just days after the Massachusetts senator passed over Hillary Rodham Clinton to endorse her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama.

"I want you to think about this, and I have to say, this was a train wreck that was not intended. No Child Left Behind was supported by George Bush and Senator Ted Kennedy and everybody in between. Why? Because they didn't talk to enough teachers before they did that," Clinton told more than 2,400 people in a speech Thursday night at Arizona State University.

Hillary Clinton, a New York senator, also initially supported the No Child Left Behind law but has since said it has not been properly financed or run, and should be replaced. She has proposed $10 billion for universal preschool, more money for special education, and incentives for teachers who work in places and on subjects where shortages exist.

Obama, an Illinois senator, has said he also would change No Child Left Behind "so that we're not just teaching to a test and crowding out programs like art and music." He has also said he would encourage but not require universal pre-kindergarten programs, expand teacher mentoring programs and reward teachers with higher pay not tied to standardized test scores in an $18 billion plan to be paid for in part by delaying elements of moon and Mars missions.

Bush modeled the federal No Child Left Behind Act on a Texas education law adopted while he was governor. It aims to prod low-performing schools to improve by tying government aid to performance standards.

"The idea was we will increase funding to the schools _ which they did once but they didn't continue it, so they made it an unfunded mandate," Bill Clinton said, adding that the law also did away with programs from his administration that were helping to modernize old schools, build new schools to alleviate overcrowding and provide after school care.

Instead, the Bush law requires "our kids take five tests five years in a row," but allows school districts to "pick the test and the passing score, so you wound up with the worst of all worlds ... You could wind up lowering the quality of education," Clinton said.

Comments

[dana94591]

Okay this is Hillary's answer to a question about education in the SF Chronicle:
As President, I will reform No Child Left Behind, protect children against violence, advocate for neglected children, support parents with family leave legislation and provide training programs to promote healthy development and child care. There is so much for us do, but we must commit to these goals for our children, their future, our future and for America. Children deserve not only our attention but also our resources and our investment - they are not and will not be invisible to me.

[dana94591]

Hey, let's go look and see WHO voted for NCLB originally. I am going over to the GOV website and I will be back.

[dana94591]

Also as I reflect on Hillary and her years as First Lady of Arkansas, she also chaired a commission on reform of the public school system there. And she did some of the same NCLB type reforms. How are we to trust that she will have a different perspective of education reform if she talks this big game about test scores yada yada yada. I haven't heard anything as an educator that would get me to vote for her. At least not yet.

[nikto]

How do you "fix" Nazi-ism and make it "good"?

How do you take the practice of child-rape and make it 'workable"?

How can we make cannibalism a "positive and meaningful experience"?

How can cyanide be used effectively, and not dangerously, in baked goods like cookies, pies and cakes?

What is the "best" and "most helpful" way to insert a 40-inch crowbar all the way
into your rectum?

If you can answer the above questions correctly and in a "positive way", then perhaps you are qualified to "fix" that which cannot be fixed:NCLB.

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND is not a "good-faith" law.
Never was.

It is a vast attack on Public Education by its enemies, and too many supposed liberal "friends" of Pub Ed stupidly went along and helped stab Pub Ed in the back (and FRONT) by supporting NCLB (READING the frikkin' bill before its passage might have helped comprehension, ya' think?).

NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND is malicious, destructive and TOXIC in EVERY ASPECT.

Such atrocities should only be eliminated;They cannot be "fixed".

[fisharefreinds]

I thought we were talking about education and Kennedy's hypocrisy on this and many other "liberal" subjects. Where was Caroline during this? In NYC doing nothing.
No Child Left Behind destroyed Texas education and increased the drop out rate--read Molly Ivans on this subject.
It is a ploy for those who advocate the privatization of education and nothing more. It feeds the elite private schools as parents (who can afford it)look for alternatives to increasingly irrevelant public schools; feeds the companies supplying materials etc. to public schools; and has contributed to making US public education the mockery it has become in the Western World. This is just what the privatiztion people have always wanted, an irrelevant public school system they could then take down--listen to that fool Greenspan on this subject. All our children have been left behind by it. Anyone who wants to end Iraq now and put that obscene money into education--from early education to college; and for all children including those learning under IDEA--that's who I am voting for.

[Pippilangstrumpf]

You want the money to help schools and education?
I've been saying this for years: Get rid of in school sports.
Yes!! ALL sports should be community based and NOT something that our school systems should indulge or pay for. Imagine how awesome high school would be without the jock culture running things!!
And imagine how much MONEY we would have for this little thing called "education".
Imagine kids actually READING again. Ahh...it's a pipe dream. We live in a jock oriented culture.
People would rather spend money on the football team than on books.
In this culture, it's NOT being physically fit that counts...it's winning a game.
Very sad, in my opinion.

[dana94591]

This is not all! As a California teacher who has experienced the vast changes that have happened since the enactment of the NCLB (what I call No Child Left Standing when this law ends) I have seen: the demoralization of teachers and teaching staffs, the shift of emphasis from teaching children to learn to teaching them to pass standardized tests, increase of administrative staffs to accommodate the requirements of the law, vast numbers of teachers moving into auxiliary education jobs who perform administrative tasks as principal's "helpers" who do not directly work with students even though they are supposed to be "lead teachers" which is the NCLB designation; test making mills making money on faulty testing materials which are not valid or reliable tools for measuring anything; etc. I could go on and on. I am convinced that the soul purpose of NCLB is to desimate the public school system, making vouchers and private religious schools the ONLY alternative for any sane, concerned, thinking parent who cares about their children's education. NCLB needs to be scratched completely and all who supported it should be called on the carpet for gross negligence! Public education needs lots of reform, yes, but leaving the key players out of the discussion, us lowly teachers, is amazingly wrong-headed. Allowing unions to represent us is not providing us with the representation we deserve and need. NCLB is the most mean-spirited legislation in the world. The US public school system is in shambles even though the powers that be say they are making great strides and elevating scores, yada yada yada. I can't tell how these people have massaged data to make it say anything that they want it to say. This is a huge eeconomic and education equity issue that deserves much debate and investigation. Currently, I am in the land of No Child Left Behind, and the educational-industrial complex created here is amazing!

[Tiger2Lover]

This is who, and what obama is: a COWARD!
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-06-28-obama-impeachment_N.htm?csp=34

[Tiger2Lover]

I AM SICK OF THE MINDLESS OBAMA, YO MOMMA SUPPORTERS. THIS JOKE IS NOT QUALIFIED PERIOD. IT IS AMAZING THAT YOU DUMB BASTARDS SUPPORT THIS VERY UGLY, TYPICAL, ARROGANT, INEXPERIENCED COWARD WHO DOES NOT THINK BUSH AND CHENEY SHOULD BE IMPEACHED. IN FACT, HE THINKS THAT THEY HAVE NOT COMMITTED A SERIOUS ENOUGH CRIME. THE WORD IS CRIMES THOUGH, HE IS ASLEEP AS USUAL.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-06-28-obama-impeachment_N.htm?csp=34

[traveler501]

Pretty funny...go Bill!! *grin* It's true too, at least in general. Truer is that Kennedy trusted Bush and got screwed...pretty much the same thing that happened to Hillary voting for Bush's "negotiate from strength" bill that turned out to be "voting for war." Nonetheless, Teddy should know his limitations...after picking Kerry, some humility is expected.

[kennedy]

If you had lived in the 90's and benefited from the Clinton's time in office you would know from where you speak. Times were great. We were at peace, made a he!! of allot of money in the stock market, we had great paying jobs, gas prices didn't break the bank and plenty of affordable food on tables for our families. Why do you think the loudest applause of the night came for Hillary.

BUSH LIED TO EVERYONE ABOUT NUCLEAR BOMBS DROPPING ON AMERICA AND FORGED INTELL. REPORTS.

[kennedy]

Hillary has the best insurance plan. If you like the plan your on you don't have to change. And it covers pre existing conditions. And Hillarys plan will help those that need help paying. And not leave 15 million people off the way Obamas does.

Those of us who have tried to get insurance with preexisting conditions knows how tough it can be. Hillary will make a great president.

[kennedy]

Hillary is a million more times more electable than Obama.

[kennedy]

Obama continues to lie about Iraq. OBAMA WAS NOT IN THE SENATE TO CAST A VOTE TO GO TO WAR IN IRAQ. BUT HE CONTINUES TO LIE. THAT IS LIKE ME SAYING I WAS AGAINST THE WAR SO ELECT ME PRESIDENT. OBAMA IS SUCH A LIAR.

SINCE OBAMA HAS BEEN IN THE U.S. SENATE HE HAS MISSED SEVERAL VOTES ON IRAQ. SO WHERE IN THE HE!! WAS HE?? OBAMA DIDN'T THINK OUR TROOPS WERE IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO EVEN SHOW UP.

[kennedy]

I have met Hillary and Bill and they are very nice people. And so smart. They can carry on a conversation on any topic for hours. And they love America and have done great things for the America people and I can't wait to get them back in the White House. And millions upon millions of people support and love the Clinton's.