NY-26: Jon Powers: No Talking Point Left Behind
by Matt at May 6th, 2008
Jon Powers may claim to be an agent of change, but it seems like everything that comes out of his mouth (besides “lead by example” of course) are the same old Democratic Party talking points that have been proven false:
America has long been committed to public school education, but our current U.S. policy is failing our teachers and, more importantly, failing our children. No Child Left Behind is an unfunded federal mandate that evaluates teachers and schools based on test scores, not the quality of education they provide. It takes the teacher out of the classroom.
Democrats have been making these claims for years, despite the fact that according to the nonpartisan General Accounting Office (GAO), No Child Left Behind “did not meet the definition of a mandate.”
For starters, education funding has only increased, and No Child Left Behind is neither unfunded or a mandate.
The No Child Left Behind Act is a well-known example that has intergovernmental implications, but was not identified as a federal mandate under [The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995]. No Child Left Behind provides federal grants for a host of education programs, requires states to design and implement standards and assessments, and provides financial penalties for states that fail to achieve certain standards over 2 consecutive years.
And perhaps even more important, education funding only increased under No Child Left Behind.
But i’m sure those facts were left out of the talking points Jon Powers got from the DNC.
