Failing our schools

Bush likes to trumpet the No Child Left Behind Bill that he has horribly underfunded. Here's what it looks like in action:

Because Cedar Grove failed to meet No Child Left Behind standards for test scores two years in a row, middle school-age children at Cedar Grove can attend South Charleston if they choose. It's the next closest school in the county to meet the federal standards.

No students have opted to switch schools. But if they did, the tab for transportation and other expenses would fall to the county, squeezing the school system's budget even more.

"That would be an unfunded mandate," said Harry Reustle, Kanawha County schools treasurer. "It does not come out of any money set aside for No Child Left Behind."

Reustle said officials would have to reallocate resources from one part of the budget to cover these "unfunded mandates, because, well, they are mandates."

You can see the dangers of underfunding a program like this. Schools are already struggling to meet the standards set without the money promised them, and failure leads to even more money taken away from educational purposes, which would in turn lead to further collapse.

It is flat out amazing to me that a solution for failing schools is to take money away from them. How does this help make schools better off than they were four years ago?

*UPDATE* The Minneapolis Star-Tribune has a story today on NCLB as well (registration required):

Jody Schwab, who teaches fifth grade at Johnsville Elementary School in Blaine, said she jokes with her fellow teachers that the avalanche of tests makes them feel like they are working at "Tests 'R' Us." Schwab said she has mixed feelings about adding testing. It puts teachers on the same page, which she said will benefit students in the end. But the federal regulations sometimes strip instructors of flexibility in the classroom, and the testing eats up instruction time, she said.

Schwab said she conducts new district testing in the fall and spring that aims to get her 30 students compliant with No Child Left Behind standards. The amount of time she spends with the new tests creates a tricky balancing act between completing them and staying on track with Minnesota's curriculum standards, she said.

Schwab's main concern isn't additional testing from No Child Left Behind, it's inadequate funding, which she said creates larger class sizes and cuts programs that help struggling students.

"I don't know how you can say 'no child left behind' without adequate funding," Schwab said.