Texas did not apply for a waiver because it did not want to accept federal intervention into its schools.
So Texas is still subject the the punitive sanctions of the idiotic law that got its start in Texas, a gift to America’s schools thanks to Sandy Kress, Margaret Spellings, Rod Paige and George W. Bush (with a bow to Senator Ted Kennedy, Rep George Miller, and Rep. John Boehner, among its lead sponsors).
I got this note from Sara Stevenson, the dauntless librarian at the O. Henry Middle School in Austin, Texas:
Last week AYP was announced. Our middle school is one of
only five in eighteen that met AYP in our district. Therefore, last
week forty-five students transferred, even though we are officially
closed to transfers. Now we’ll have 1070 kids, instead of the 1025
we’d planned for, and my principal has to hire two new teachers at the
last minute. In addition, the “failing” schools are losing some of
their best students and involved parents. How will this help them to
make improvements? The law is just so senseless. I also looked at the
targets for next year. If this year we had been judged by next year’s
standards, we would have failed in every subgroup. We will all fail
next year, no matter how hard we try. This is just a terrible way to
start a new school year.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I can’t think of a school district that needs MORE shaking up than Austin ISD.
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Why?
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I still cannot figure out which is worse. I hear nightmares of the impact of NCLB in states that did not apply for the waiver, but here in NJ the waiver is being used to intervene in massive ways by the state in local school districts, threatening them with take overs, instituting Regional Achievement Centers (RACs) which are really ‘the state is here to tell you how to run your district centers’ funded by Broad money (so read, ‘dismantle your public school system’), focus and priority schools are being made to jump through hoops for crazy reasons, and ‘failing’ charter schools are being doled out to CMOs. Is this better? Maybe the grass is always greener, but right now it is looking brown all over.
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Why don’t they pass a law getting rid of NCLB?? NH tried to do that last session. I think it was tabled. THe thought of any school losing a dime of federal $$ freaks out many legislators. They don’t consider that it simply makes them slaves.
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I agree with MOMwithAbrain. While I agree that NCLB has been a complete disaster of “nuclur” proportions, there are strings attached to applying for the waiver Obama and Duncan have drummed up. A state still has to accept a strong federal role in how states manage/shape education policy. Until we quit comparing apples to oranges…our country that educates ALL children the SAME (CORE) way to countries that educate children differently according to class, financial, and social status, we will continue to chase our tails and fatten the wallets of big education companies like Pearson in the process. Even within our own country, applying a federal standard is stupid (as is having people head agencies that have no experience in education). No one ever complains about the scores or education in Montana or Idaho…they don’t have the same issues, demographics, and transient populations that say Florida, California, and Texas have.
At this point, my husband and I are thinking about pulling our kids out of public schools and putting them into a local private school. My elementary aged children are no longer getting a true liberal arts education. It’s all about testing, testing, testing. I live in a small town and my only option is a local right wing Christian school…but you know what??? They have an art and a Spanish teacher…something our public school cut out long ago in favor of “Intervention time” which is time they use to teach kids how to take the latest standardized test. You know, all that will be left in public schools is kids that can’t afford all of the private schools popping up or don’t live in households where a parent can stay home to homeschool. I no longer look at homeschooling the way I used to.
Ultimately, I think the feds need to STAY OUT of education. Get rid of the US Department of Education and let the states and local school boards create education policy that reflect the needs of the individual states and local communities.
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“we will continue to chase our tails” Compounding that is the fact that we are all Manx cats!
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NCLB is not good. I cannot agree that the fed should stay out of education. They need to provide money for support . . . just not tied to NCLB and the race to the bottom.
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Regrettably, we must focus on safe harbor provisions and make academic gains enough to qualify to survive this year and play the waiting game.
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