The Democrats May Have Just Aligned Themselves With Test and Punish - We Are Doomed

Almost every Democrat in the US Senate just voted to keep Test and Punish.

But Republicans defeated them.

I know. I feel like I just entered a parallel universe, too. But that's what happened.

Some facts:

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is a disaster.

It took the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) - a federal law designed to ensure all schools get equitable resources and funding - and turned it into a law about standardized testing and punishing schools that don't measure up.

This was a Republican policy proposed by President George W. Bush.

But now that the ESEA is being rewritten, those pushing to keep the same horrendous Bush era policies are the Democrats.

Almost all of the Democrats!

That includes so-called far left Dems like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren!

It comes down to the Murphy Amendment, a Democratically sponsored change to the ESEA.

This provision was an attempt to keep as many Test and Punish policies as possible in the Senate rewrite.

The amendment, "reads more like NCLB, with its detailed prescription for reporting on student test results, for 'meaningfully differentiating among all public schools' (i.e., grading schools), including publicly identifying the lowest five percent, and, among interventions, potentially firing staff and offering students the option to transfer to other schools and using part of the budget to pay for the transportation," according to blogger Mercedes Schneider.

Education historian Diane Ravich adds, "This amendment would have enacted tough, federal-mandated accountability, akin to setting up an 'achievement school district' in every state."

Thankfully it was voted down. The ESEA will probably not be affected. The rewrite was passed by both the House and Senate without these provisions. Once the two versions of the bill are combined, it is quite possible - maybe even probable - that we'll have a slight improvement on NCLB. Sure there is plenty of crap in it and plenty of lost opportunities, but the ESEA rewrite looks to be a baby step in the right direction.

The problem is this: the failed Murphy Amendment shows the Democrats' education vision. Almost all of them voted for it. Warren even co-sponsored it!
When it was defeated and the Senate approved the ESEA rewrite, Warren released a statement expressing her disapproval. But if you didn't know about the Murphy Amendment, you could have read her criticisms quite differently.

She says the (ESEA rewrite) "eliminates basic, fundamental safeguards to ensure that federal dollars are actually used to improve both schools and educational outcomes for those students who are often ignored."

That sounds good until you realize what she means. "Educational outcomes" mean test scores. She's talking about test-based accountability. She is against the ESEA rewrite because it doesn't necessarily put strings on schools' funding based on standardized test scores like NCLB.

She continues, "Republicans have blocked every attempt to establish even minimum safeguards to ensure that money would be used effectively. I am deeply concerned that billions in taxpayer dollars will not actually reach those schools and students who need them the most..."

She is upset because Republicans repeatedly stripped away federal power to Test and Punish schools. The GOP gave that power to the states. So Warren is concerned that somewhere in this great nation there may be a state or two that decides NOT to take away funding if some of their schools have bad test scores! God forbid!

And Warren's about as far left as they come!

What about liberal lion Bernie Sanders? I'd sure like an explanation for his vote.

It makes me wonder if when he promised to "end No Child Left Behind," did he mean the policies in the bill or just the name!?

The Democrats seem to be committed to the notion that the only way to tell if a school is doing a good job is by reference to its test scores. High test scores - good school. Bad test scores - bad school.

This is baloney! Test scores show parental income, not academic achievement. Virtually every school with low test scores serves a majority of poor children. Virtually every school with high test scores serves rich kids.

Real school accountability would be something more akin to the original vision of the ESEA - making sure each district had what it needs to give kids the best education possible. This means at least equalizing funding to poverty schools so they have the same resources as wealthy ones. Even better would be ending our strange reliance on local property taxes to provide the majority of district monies.

But the Dems won't hear it. The Murphy Amendment seems to show that they're committed to punishing poor schools and rewarding rich ones.

I really hope I'm wrong about this. Please, anyone out there, talk me down!

Up until now I've always been with the Democrats because they had better - though still bad - education policies than the Republicans. I'm not sure I can say that anymore. In fact, it may be just the opposite.

Which party is most committed to ending Common Core? The Republicans!

Which party has championed reducing federal power over our schools and giving us a fighting chance at real education reforms? Republicans!

Which party more often champion's parental rights over the state? Republicans!

Sure, most of them still love vouchers and charter schools. But increasingly so do the Democrats.

This vote has me rethinking everything.

Our country's education voters may have just been abandoned by their longest ally.

Where do we go from here?