From Stern Father to Sugar Daddy
NCLB leaves taxpayers empty-handed
By Matthew Ladner, Ph.D.
The Goldwater Institute
January 18, 2007
The federal role in K-12 education has evolved into a monster since NCLB passed five years ago.
The federal government was supposed to play the stern father, requiring states to hold schools accountable. That morphed into a "time-out dad" as the feds cut a slew of side deals with states, and watched as they relentlessly lowered the cut scores on accountability exams to avoid sanctions. Now, the new majority in Congress wants the federal government to become a "sugar daddy," by removing accountability measures and increasing federal funding.
Ted Kennedy, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has a wish list that includes social programs for low-income children, federally financed outreach workers in schools as a way of raising achievement, and a new federal role in renovating schools.
Sadly, none of the three NCLB "Dads" represent a realistic reform strategy. The latest incarnation, in fact, represents yet another step in the long sad history of ineffectually throwing money at public schools. NCLB is headed for the ash-heap of failed education reforms. The only question at this point is how expensive of a failure it will become.
State and federal policymakers should focus on providing transparency of academic results and allow parents to hold schools accountable. A federal sugar daddy will be great for bureaucrats but will leave students and taxpayers empty-handed.
Matthew Ladner is vice president for research at the Goldwater Institute.
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