Tim,
I've said it once and I'll say it again, there are some great things going on with our local public schools.

Tim:

I think it's great Moorpark has done so well. I also think other districts should look at Moorpark, visit Moorpark, and develop best practices around their success to be exported to other districts.

One of the problems I see is government entities are not talking to each other enough. We need to revolutionize intergovernmental relations in education.

Scott

Tim:

On March 30, Secretary Spellings went before Congress to testify. Below she talks about global competitiveness.

I want to talk say that NCLB has taken a lot of criticism because of funding and they have forced students to improve in math and reading while not giving them rigor in music and social studies. Please note that Secretary Spellings is offering solutions to this problem, not just discussing NCLB's shortfalls.

We need more emphaisis and rigor in math and reading, what Secretary Jack O'Connel has called the "gateway skills."

Let the record show that Spellings is offering not just funding increases, but new proposals to improve American competitiveness.

"U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings testified today before the House Committee on Science. Following is her prepared testimony:

Mr. Chairman, Congressman Gordon and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me today. I'd first like to congratulate you, Mr. Chairman, on 24 years of service to this Congress and the American people. I hope that whatever you do next we won't lose your strong voice on improving American competitiveness.

I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the President's Competitiveness agenda today with a Committee that has been a leading advocate to ensure that America remains the world leader in innovation and research. While testifying before this Committee is a departure from my normal Hill appearances, I think it underscores the need to rely on government-wide resources if we are going to give our students the skills to compete, work and lead in the global economy. And I've no doubt, the House Education Committee could benefit from hearing from some of my fellow colleagues here on the panel.

As all of you know, our children aren't growing up in the same world we grew up in. You can't pick up a newspaper or magazine these days without reading about global competitiveness, especially in math and science.

While we're sleeping every night, accountants in India do our taxes. Radiologists in Australia read our CAT scans. And technicians in China build our computers. In a recent Newsweek, there's even a cartoon poking fun at outsourcing NCAA office brackets!

As other nations race to catch up, there is mounting evidence that American students are falling behind. I know all of you have heard the numbers, but they bear repeating. Currently, our 15-year-olds rank 24th out of 29 developed nations in math literacy and problem solving. Almost half of our 17-year-olds don't have the math skills to work as a production associate at a modern auto plant.

We know that 90 percent of the fastest-growing jobs require postsecondary education, and yet less than half of our students graduate from high school ready for college level math and science. Every year about a million students drop out of high school and nearly 5 out of 10 African American and Hispanic 9th graders don't graduate from high school on time.

Wherever I go, I hear from governors, business people, educators, and parents that our students aren't prepared. I've heard the same from many of you. And if we are going to move in a new, positive direction—we must make our high schools more rigorous and encourage students to take more advanced math and science classes.

Employers today need workers with "pocket protector" skills—creative problem-solvers with strong math and science backgrounds. Whether children and adults want to be auto mechanics or cancer researchers, they must have these skills.

The President's American Competitiveness Initiative will devote $380 million to strengthen K-12 math and science education. It will build on the success of No Child Left Behind and increase academic rigor across the board. Overall, the Department of Education will increase funding for our programs in these critical areas by 51 percent.

The President has called for the formation of a National Math Panel—a coalition of experts to help us identify the best research on proven strategies to teach math. And his budget also includes $250 million for a new Math Now initiative that will give elementary and middle school students the academic foundation necessary to succeed in rigorous math classes in high school, such as Advanced Placement courses.

Our challenge today is that nearly forty percent of high schools offer no AP classes. And that must change ... especially when we know that just taking one or two AP courses increases a student's chance of graduating from college on time. The President has called for $122 million to prepare 70,000 teachers to lead AP and International Baccalaureate classes in math, science, and critical foreign languages. The budget also includes $25 million to help recruit 30,000 math and science professionals to become adjunct high school teachers in these critical areas.

This is urgent work, and we only have time to do what works. As policymakers, we must focus on results. We've looked at data to see what policies are most effective for students and where we can save taxpayers money or operate more efficiently by eliminating and consolidating programs that aren't getting results for our students.

According to the GAO, 13 different government agencies, including yours and mine, spend about $2.8 billion on 207 different programs for math and science education—almost half of them receive $1 million or less. These programs are in their own silos with little or no coordination between them or linkage to No Child Left Behind's goals of raising student achievement for all students. It's a thousand flowers blooming and maybe even a few weeds throughout the government.

We need to ask ourselves some pointed questions. What are our goals for these programs? Do we have a consensus on what those goals should be? Are those goals aligned with state standards?

Who is our client? Are we spending millions to train teachers who already possess a strong science knowledge base? Or are we reaching the teachers who need the training? Do we want these programs to produce an educated workforce? More Nobel Prize Winners? Both? And, at the end of the day, is student achievement on the rise as a result?

Congress created the American Competitiveness Council, which I chair, to answer questions like these and align our efforts around shared, strategic goals. At the beginning of March, the President and I led the first meeting to begin the process of evaluating how well these math and science programs are working and improve coordination between them.

We must align all our efforts with the principles of No Child Left Behind—by continuing to hold schools accountable for getting all students to grade level in reading and math by 2014 and by giving local policymakers and educators the resources, authority, and research-base to do what's best. And it's not just for reading and math... we'll have science assessments in place by 2007, and the President has called for them to be a part of the accountability system.

As leaders and policymakers—as parents—it's our job to look down the road and make sure our kids are prepared for the future. As the President said, "If we ensure that America's children succeed in life, they will ensure that America succeeds in the world."

And if we raise our expectations, our students will rise to the challenge.

Thank you, and I'd be happy to answer your questions."

###

Latest study on NCLB shows under-funding by 40.3 billion from FY02-FY06. Spending in Iraq and Afganistan FY02-FY06 250 billion.

Arleigh:

Are you saying that we should cut funds from the war on terror for NCLB?

Scott

Arleigh:

How come you don't attack Howard Dean's DNC for only saying NCLB is underfunded by 15.4 billion?

Scott

Scott,
Do you really think Iraq is part of the war on terror? Even Bush admitted Sadam had no role in 9/11. No WMD's either. Iraq was about securing big contracts for Halliburton via Dick Cheney. Afganistan I would agree was part of the war on terror, but how long should be have stayed? I've read the only two Countries happy with what we are doing is Iran and China because we are using up our resources, just like the old USSR did in Afganistan. I'm saying why are we not investing in America Scott?

Arleigh:

Iraq is part of the war on terror. Are we not fighting terrorists in Iraq today? Iraq violated every UN security resolution and kicked out weapons inspectors in 1998. If they had nothing to hide why did they violate the tenets of the Treaty after the first gulf war?

I disagree on Iran. Iran is not happy with our presence in the region as you argue. Yesterday, they tested a sub torpedo to try and intimidate the US and our allies. Iran is less than pleased that the US is in Iraq to the west, and Afghanistan to the east.

They are also less than pleased that we are putting international pressure on their reckless pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Iran is fully funding terror cells throughout the middle east and has even given technical support to terrorists in Iraq to remotely detonate IED's in Iraq that have maimed and killed our troops.

Why do they want us to go home as you do? Because we are bringing freedom, respect for the rule of law, and democracy to a region that has never had it.

Sure, what we are doing is not perfect. Our troops are working extremely hard for the people of Iraq and American ends. They are true heros. The problem is there are political opportunists everywhere who want to hedge their bets on the daily news in Iraq. Is political opportunism in the best interest of our national security?

Political opportunists seem intent at undermining the war effort at all costs trying to weaken the President's position to our enemy by attacking the President relentlessly. This sort of rhetoric only encourages people like Zarqawi and his terror cells to continue to attack our troops and undermine the democratization of the region.

I wish Americans would be united with the President on our foreign policy.

Scott

Arleigh:

After putting this response out there I want to make it clear that I don't think you personally are on the side of Iran. I'm just saying that heavy divisions at home only encourage these people to keep up the attacks in hopes we will just give up and go home.

Scott

Arleigh:

Do you think Moussaoui should be elgible for the death penalty?

Guys,

Unless you can tie Moussaoui to API Scores, I'd ask you to take the War on Terror discussion elsewhere. We have an audience for educational issues and I think when we get off topic, well, people get off the topic.

The management...

:)

Alright,

But, Arleigh gets a right to rebut my argument. I will stand down.

Scott

Scott,
Have you ever read Sun Tzu "The Art of War"? One of his points was that you should not occupy cities with soldiers. In fact, that is an age old military rule. Why? Because soldiers are not police officers and leaving them in cities is bad for moral and dangerous. What are we doing in Iraq? Leaving our soldiers in the cities. What is happening to them as a result? I think we are now fighting terrorists in Iraq because our occupation has created terrorism. In the Mid-East families rely on the tribe as an extended family unit, they do not rely on the traditional family model of the West. If you kill a member of the tribe it is the duty of the other tribal members to avenge the death. I think if we leave Iraq today or in ten years, the same thing will happen regardless if it is tomorrow or ten years from tomorrow. Look at Vietnam, we left, the North took over and now we are trading with them and Americans are vacationing there. Look at the Palestinians, Bush told them to have democratic elections, they did and elected Hamas, now we want to sanction them. Remind what the original topic of this blog was Scott?

Arleigh:

Fair points. Original topic was Moorpark test scores. Geez, how'd we get on the War on Terror?

Scott

Scott,
This blog is about schools, schools teach children about the World, only natural that we talk about all subjects as everything is connected in one way or another. We were talking about underfunding of NCLB, I was pointing out that at the same time DC underfunded NCLB they found 250 billion to fight wars in Iraq and Afganistan.

Tim,
Okay, Scott and I will get back on topic!

Arleigh:

Do you propose to raise taxes, deficit spend, or take the money away from Iraq and Afghanistan to fund the difference in NCLB?

Scott

Scott,
The budget of a country reflects the priorities of its leaders. The Bush budgets have shown that Education is not one of its priorities. I understand Delay was a big supporter of NCLB. Do you think he and Duke Cunningham will get to share a cell? Do you think they will join the Aryan Brotherhood?

Arleigh:

Below is from the Department of Education.

President Bush's FY 2007 budget request demonstrates his continued commitment to education, with dramatic funding increases over 2001 for key education programs, including:

29% increase in total Federal education funding (from $42.2 billion in 2001 to $54.4 billion in 2007);

33% increase in total K-12 funding (from $27.3 billion in 2001 to $36.3 billion in 2007);
40.4% increase in total NCLB funding (from $17.4 billion in 2001 to $24.4 billion in 2007);
45% increase in Title I (from $8.8 billion in 2001 to $12.7 billion in 2007);

68.5% increase for Special Education (IDEA) grants to states (from $6.34 billion in 2001 to $10.7 billion in 2007); and

Quadrupled funding for reading (from $286 million in 2001 to $1.2 billion in 2007) (a 300% increase).

Scott,
From what Bush promised on NCLB and what he delivered, there is a 40.3 billion dollar shortfall.

Scott,
New poll shows that 62% of Californians disaprove of the job Bush is doing and only 31% think the Country is headed in the right direction. Poll also shows that Education is the top priority in California and that most in California do not support what Bush has done in Iraq and they want more money going to k-12 public education and not to Iraq.

Arleigh:

Did you see the recent polling on Presidential hopefuls? John McCain beats Hillary, John Kerry, and Al Gore handily.

The question on polling is, will Americans choose democrats as a viable alternative? So far opinion is low for Bush, but voters seem to be choosing McCain, another republican, instead of the top democrats.

Scott,
After McCain started trying to collect money for Arnold I lost all respect for him. He said one thing about fundraising and then did another. He is a hypocrite! The next President will be Democrat Evan Byah of Indiana.

Arleigh:

For your statements to be true about Senator McCain, John McCain would have had to raise "soft money" for Arnold. Soft money is illegal because of his efforts in the Senate. John McCain is a true patriot. I have nothing but the highest respect for him.

Scott