For Immediate Release
Contact: David Smith / Jim Manley
(202) 224-2633
 

Two years ago, it was right for President Bush to celebrate the promise of the No Child Left Behind Act. Today, it's disingenuous.

The No Child Left Behind Act is still the right reform for our schools, requiring higher standards, better teachers, and real accountability for schools for the performance of all children. But in the two years since the No Child Left Behind Act was passed, the Bush Administration has cut its funding, reneged on promised resources for better teachers and smaller classes, and worked to divert millions of dollars to private school vouchers.

The No Child Left Behind Act was modeled on proven reforms found in states like Massachusetts. While there is still much to be done in Massachusetts, for the last 10 years, we have committed resources to school reform, and we're getting positive results. Test scores are up in every grade, every subject, and for every racial and socioeconomic minority group. Massachusetts now leads the Nation in reading and math, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The No Child Left Behind Act can work if, as we've done in Massachusetts, we back up school reform and the President's rhetoric with resources. You can't reform schools on a tin cup budget.

President Bush's new budget for 2005 will leave over 4.6 million children behind. Still pending before Congress is President Bush's 2004 budget which provides schools with over $7.5 billion less than promised in the No Child Left Behind Act. And there is every expectation that the President will propose again not only to cut resources for public school reform, but to divert scarce public education dollars to private schools.