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AFT's Closer Look - May 20, 2004

IN THIS ISSUE
May 20, 2004

In the News: Schools and Class
Former New York Times columnist Richard Rothstein's new book, Schools and Class, examines the circumstances of our country's disadvantaged children, identifying the out-of-school factors that interfere with learning. Rothstein's point is, at once, obvious, troubling and too often ignored: Schools can't do it alone. More . . .

Can Anyone Vouch for D.C. Vouchers?
When the Bush administration pushed for a school voucher program in the District of Columbia, George W. Bush promised that D.C. public schools would get additional funding and that voucher schools would be held accountable. Now, it seems he may break those promises. More . . .

Federal Policies Hammer Budgets in Swing States
"Passing Down the Deficit," a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, finds that federal policies have contributed to four years of budget shortfalls in many states. Which state has been hit hardest? (Hint: It's known for sunshine, Mickey Mouse and a governor whose brother is in the White House.) More . . .

Misunderestimating Proficiency
Although "proficiency" is a loaded word as it's used in the No Child Left Behind Act, there is no common understanding among education policymakers about what the word means, according to a new AFT issue brief. More . . .

Friends in High Places
If you work for an organization with ties to Deputy Secretary of Education Eugene Hickok, there's a good chance you're getting serious grant money from the U.S. Department of Education. More . . .

Illiberal Media Manipulation?
ISO: Journalist who wants hard data or a week of "research" in sunny California. Being open to ethical compromise is a plus. Contact the Hoover Institution or the Heritage Foundation. More . . .

That Nineties Show
The Bush-Cheney Web site credits George W. Bush with raising student achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests between 1990 and 2003.
More . . .

In the News: Schools and Class

Former New York Times columnist Richard Rothstein's new book, Schools and Class, examines the circumstances of our country's disadvantaged children, identifying the out-of-school factors that interfere with learning.

Rothstein's findings paint a grim picture. In addition to the income gap between Americans of different races and ethnicities, there is an even greater (and harder to measure) wealth gap, which reflects the cumulative effects of lower incomes. Seemingly minor differences between advantaged children and disadvantaged children can produce huge variations in average academic performance, as Rothstein documents with citations of authoritative research in education, sociology, healthcare and other fields. He notes that poor children are more likely to have untreated vision, hearing and dental problems, to have been exposed to lead, to suffer from asthma, to have mothers who drank or smoked during pregnancy, and to be born prematurely or with low birth weights--and all these factors can interfere with learning.

Rothstein's point is, at once, obvious, troubling and too often ignored: Schools can't do it alone. Disadvantaged children need better healthcare, housing and early childhood education, as well as quality teaching and effective in-school programs. Rothstein focuses on the limits of schools' effectiveness in closing the achievement gap. But, as he points out in the book's introduction, "efforts that raise the quality of instruction" are critical to success and "should be pursued vigorously." He adds, "Readers should not misinterpret this emphasis [on out-of-school factors] as implying that better schools are not important, or that school improvement will not make a contribution to narrowing the achievement gap."

That point underscores AFT's core belief that good schools matter. Despite the greater difficulty of educating poor children, schools can narrow the achievement gap, and it's our obligation to support policies and programs, such as high-quality standards-based reform, that will bring about that narrowing.

Related Reading:

Can Anyone Vouch for D.C. Vouchers?

When the Bush administration pushed for a school voucher program in the District of Columbia, George W. Bush promised that D.C.'s public schools would get additional funding and that voucher schools would be held accountable. "The same accountability system applies to the recipient school as it does to the public schools in Washington," Bush said. But before the D.C. voucher program even gets under way, his promised accountability has gone out the window, along with extra funds Congress pledged for D.C. public schools.

Catholic schools in the D.C. area, not satisfied with the $12.5 million in public tax money allotted for vouchers, have asked the federal government to send even more money to fund the administrative costs of vouchers, according to the Washington Post. The Post has also reported that the voucher program won't serve as many students as expected because there are not enough available seats at private schools.

What's more, the program needs many more applicants to form a control group for evaluation. U.S. Education Department (ED) official Nina Shokraii Rees calls such a control group the "gold standard" for evaluating the program, but Rees is quick to back away from that standard as it suits the administration's needs, telling the Post that ED will use other methods if the program doesn't get enough applicants.

Revising the standards of independent research doesn't seem to bother Rees' boss, either. In the past, Education Secretary Rod Paige has called for more schools to employ research-based practices, which are a key element of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). But when it comes to the D.C. voucher program, Paige is not waiting for the research. "We can't just sit and wait five years to see what happens here," he declared in a recent speech to the Heritage Foundation, vowing to promote vouchers in other parts of the country.

Meanwhile, Congress has withheld $13 million in extra funding for D.C.'s public schools, which was promised when the voucher program was announced. All of this leads people concerned about D.C. public schools to wonder whether Paige and Congress will work hard to produce the "independent" evaluation of the voucher program that is required by law.

Related Reading:

Federal Policies Hammer Budgets in Swing States

"Passing Down the Deficit," a new report from the well-regarded Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), finds that federal policies and rulings have exacerbated state budget problems, costing states and localities more than $175 billion since fiscal year 2002. CBPP explained that U.S. Supreme Court rulings, congressional actions and federal policies that predate the Bush administration have squeezed state budgets. But the report also makes clear that George W. Bush's policies have been a significant contributor to state budget shortfalls.

For example, Bush has signed three budgets since he proposed his signature education initiative, the No Child Left Behind Act. Those budgets have fallen short by more than $20 billion in funding that states need to help disadvantaged students and accomplish the goals of NCLB. In the budget Bush presented to Congress this February, the shortfall in funding for NCLB hits states with an additional burden of $7 billion. And because there are linkages between federal tax codes and some states' tax codes, Bush's signature tax policy--a large cut for the ultra-rich--has reduced state revenues by $9 billion, according to the report.

Of particular interest in this election year, the report finds that many of the affected states are electoral battlegrounds. For instance, the hardest hit state, Florida, will feel the pain of federal policies that have cost the state 13.3 percent of its budget over the last four years, or more than $11 billion. Michigan and Pennsylvania have had to deal with more than $5 billion in net losses as a result of federal policies.

The Bush-Cheney campaign will try to tout Bush's tax and education policies, and, as the New York Times reports, the administration already has sent Cabinet members and other officials to those battleground states. But if voters in certain swing states examine the facts, they'll learn the real message: Federal policies have contributed to the difficulties that have forced state legislatures to raise taxes or cut spending on education and other essentials.

Related Reading:

Friends in High Places

If you work for an organization with ties to the Education Leaders Council (ELC), there's a good chance you're getting serious grant money from President Bush's Department of Education.

The ELC is a network of state education leaders that was founded in 1995 by the current deputy secretary of education, Eugene Hickok. ELC has received $15.9 million in ED grants for its "Following the Leaders" technology project.

But, as George Archibald of the Washington Times has explored in a series of articles, the ELC's handling of federal grants has been steeped in controversy. Archibald has chronicled a string of missteps and questionable actions: six-figure salaries paid to staffers through federal grant money; accusations of an improper consulting contract for the council's CEO, Lisa Graham Keegan; allegations of kickbacks; audit findings that the time worked on federal contracts was reported improperly; and the resignations of eight of ELC's 16 board members.

Questions also have been raised about grant money ELC received to oversee a project related to teacher certification. As Linda Jacobson reveals in Education Week, citing ED documents she obtained, "Two of the three experts who reviewed the original grant proposal . . . rejected the plan."

One quotation in Jacobson's article that certainly invites skepticism about ED grants comes from Michael J. Petrilli, an ED official with ties to at least two organizations that have received federal education grants during the Bush administration. Petrilli used to work for K-12, an Internet education company founded by former Education Secretary William Bennett that has received $14 million in ED grants, and for the Fordham Foundation, which has ties to ELC's teacher certification project. Now Petrilli serves as a senior staffer in ED's Office of Innovation and Improvement. Of the decision to override the reviewers' recommendations, Petrilli commented: "This was not just giving money to our friends."