Despite those surprisingly high numbers, Miller’s proposed changes to No Child Left Behind gut its school-choice provisions. It seems some members of Congress—who are paid $165,200 per year—have no problem personally taking advantage of school choice, but they are willing to reduce the school-choice options for those without financial means to afford it on their own.
As Democrats push for these changes, conservatives have taken the opposite approach. Led by Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), a group of Republicans are pursuing legislation known as A-PLUS. Their bill attempts to bring greater transparency to No Child Left Behind and reduce the additional 6.7 million hours that school officials are spending to comply with the law.
“No Child Left Behind originally sought to return some education policy-making authority to the states, but in its current form the legislation is a massive spending bill filled with federal mandates that increase the presence of federal bureaucrats in our classrooms,” Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), a co-sponsor of the A-PLUS Act, said last week on the House floor.
It’s too bad Spellings was so quick to reject the conservatives’ ideas earlier this year. While their proposal might not have been exactly what she wanted, it would be a significant improvement over the big-government solutions that Miller hopes to pass into law.
At this point, no conservative could support what Miller has proposed. If liberals are serious about the changes they want to make, it’s only a matter of time before the Bush administration realizes it won’t get anything good from this Congress on education policy. The status quo just might be a better option.