I can assure you this administration understands the importance of local control of schools, that we don't believe in the federalization of the public school system.

~ President George W. Bush (2001)

Federaliation of public education is the purpose of Public Law 107-110, otherwise known as No Child Left Behind. No Child Left Behind is a 600 page document outlining how much federal money is to be given for public education, how it should be used, what is considered accountablity in the education processes and how that will be determined. In the name of accountability students have to take regular standardized tests that takes away from valuable learning time. If they do well the high scoring schools are given monitary bonuses that are sometimes passed down to the teachers. In the name of accountablity there is complaints about how special education students bring down overall school test scores. It has been an arguement for some time that special education students scores shouldn't count.

No Child Left Behind states "The academic stadards required by subparagraph (A) shall be the same academic standards that the State applies to all schools and children in the State." That statement was largely incompatable with IDEA, the Individals with Disabilities Educational Act. The purpose of IDEA is handicap accessablity in education and to provide special education students with whatever allowances and help they need to complete their course work. IDEA and NCLB couldn't play in the same sandbox, so in 2004 IDEA was revamped to come into alignment with NCLB. NCLB was not revamped to make allowances for IDEA. Every special education student pays that price every day.

The insult to injury here is that No Child Left Behind is unconsitutional. In 1979 Jimmy Carter signed the Department of Education Organization Act that gave us the Department of Education on May 4, 1980. The purpose of the Department of Education is to oversee federal educational funds.

The Constitution of the United States says nothing about education. It was something that was left to the states and until 1980, beyond the allocation of Title I funds that have been set aside to help at risk kids since 1965 under Lyndon Johnson, federal monies were never spent on education. It was all left to the states. Now, under NCLB, the federal government is using coercion to force states to comply with it. States have the option of leaving behind NCLB, but if they do and they are not in compliance, they risk loosing all federal monies, including Title I funds that assures programs like Head Start can run.

The education syste is broken more than ever and it needs to be fixed by doing away with No Child Left Behind, taking education away from the federal government and giving it back to the states where it belongs. We are creating a legacy that threatens the future of our children and the current policies put our children in jeapordy.