Budget Paradox Case in Point: No Child Left Behind

In that "lowest common denominator" school of bipartisanship that's becoming more and more the rule -- not to be confused with moderation! -- Bush's No Child Left Behind compromise policy was well-meaning but too top-down and short-sighted; and then, of course, he refuses to pay for it, rewarding schools' improved performance with less and less funding each year, according to educators. No wonder they're peeved about it.

from the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (yes, that's an abbreviated version of the committee name) hearing on federal funding for the No Child Left Behind Act on Wed., March 14:

JOHN JENNINGS, CEO, CENTER ON EDUCATION POLICY: The other point is, for years, since I've worked in this area, I have heard folks say, business people, politicians, well, there would be more money for education provided when there's more accountability.

Well, today, you won't find an educator in the country who will tell you that the accountability isn't coming from No Child Left Behind. And so the accountability is there, but the money isn't there.

SEN. TOM HARKIN (D-IA): That's right.

JENNINGS: And so it seems time for the Congress and the administration to own up to its responsibility to provide the money. And what we heard earlier today from the secretary, well, we only provide 8 to 9 percent of the money and we can't provide any more -- that's not the answer.

The answer is that, if the federal government wants all this, the federal government has to help to pay for it.

HARKIN: Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. And that's what we're trying to get at. And that's this ridiculous, crazy budget that we have, that's sent down to us. And to try to get adequate -- no, not adequate, I wouldn't say adequate -- we've got to get a big increase to education -- not adequate, that's not the right word.

We need to have funding of education that would match exactly what we want to get out of it. And, as I said at the beginning, the teachers I talk to on this stuff -- the ones that I hear that are really griping about No Child Left Behind -- it's not that they don't want to do it. They can't do it. They're just -- they're frustrated. And look how many teachers we're losing in the first or second year now.