Last month, Department of Education
Secretary Arne Duncan continued the White House talking point of “We
Can’t Wait” when it comes to stalled Congressional action on education. Together with the
president, he announced that waivers to the No Child Left Behind Act
would be granted to ten different states. These waivers are another
blatant attempt by the Obama administration to centralize more authority
in education while giving the appearance of flexibility and helpfulness
to the states. They set a dangerous precedent for future
administrations and seriously impair the system of federalism that
governs our democratic system.
What do the waivers do? States
are allowed to opt out of the onerous No Child Left Behind Act
requirements through the 2013-14 school year. The catch though is that
they must implement a series of reforms that have been determined solely
by bureaucrats in the Department of Education, not the elected
representatives of the people in Congress. These reforms have been
vaguely defined and include everything from teacher evaluations and lifting the cap on charter schools to administering career and college ready Common
Core Standards. The last component is quite troubling as the Department
of Education’s original charter explicitly states that it is not allowed
to be involved in the creation or determination of national standards
or a curriculum in any way. Secretary Duncan argues that a section of
the NCLB Act gives him this authority despite serious legal concerns
from education policy stakeholders across the country. Frederick Hess of
the American Enterprise Institute connected the action to the political
culture where Obama and Duncan came from:
Rather, in the classic
Chicago style, the attitude seems to be that if the administration
wants to do it, that's good enough--whatever the statutory or
Constitutional complexities, and regardless of whether this is all
likely to turn out as intended.
While some of the reforms that
the administration wants to see implemented are necessary to improve the
nation’s school system, they have no place being tied to a federal
waiver. Secretary Duncan’s attempt at centralizing more authority does
not respect the rule of law nor is it an effective method at bringing
about true reform. Policies that promote more parental choice in
education are getting incredible results without burdensome regulations
coming from Washington. Illinois should drop out of the second round of
the waiver process and call for reform of No Child Left Behind by the people's elected representatives in Congress. Respecting the proper constitutional course of action will lead to common sense proposals that give state and local governments true flexibility in reforming their education systems.
