David Broder opines in the Washington Post:
"The last thing President Bush needs is another fight with his political base. But that is what he has found as he presses Congress to renew the No Child Left Behind Act, his signature education program passed by a bipartisan majority in the first months of his first term.
Last week, 57 Republican legislators signed on as sponsors of legislation that would -- in the view of the administration -- destroy No Child Left Behind. The bill would allow any state that objected to the law's standards and testing to excuse itself from those requirements and still receive federal school aid...
...The president, who has disdained compromise with the Democrats on Iraq policy, or the budget, or much of anything else, finds himself dependent on Democratic help to rescue this notable domestic initiative. He is lucky that they are still willing to give it.
There are ways to reinforce the goals of high proficiency for all students while reducing the bureaucratic regulations, and that should be the measuring stick for renewal of No Child Left Behind."
But the dissenting Republicans' idea of letting every state set its own standards and measure its own progress is a certain way to consign many youngsters to second-class educations. And that would be a serious step backward."
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