SCHAKOWSKY: BUSH ADMINISTRATION MISSTATEMENT OF THE DAY PUBLIC EDUCATION

July 19, 2004
Press Release

JULY 19, 2004

SCHAKOWSKY: BUSH ADMINISTRATION MISSTATEMENT OF THE DAY -
PUBLIC EDUCATION

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) issued "The Bush Administration Misstatement of the Day" on public education.

In an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal on July 16, 2004, Secretary of Education Rod Paige wrote: "Although the NAACP says it is committed to erasing this pernicious achievement gap, has it put its money where its mouth is? No Child Left Behind is the most aggressive attempt to attack this problem to date, and it is the law. Yet, the NAACP would prefer to attack it merely because of its origins in the Bush administration. How sad for black children everywhere."

However, it is the Bush Administration that is failing to erase the "pernicious achievement gap," by refusing to fully-fund the No Child Left Behind Act.

According to an article published in the December 2003/January 2004 edition of American Teacher, the Bush Administration has under funded the NCLB by $9 billion. "Massive numbers like $9 billion," the article continues "can be tough to put into context. But consider what public schools could do with just an additional $500 million-fewer than 6 cents on every dollar promised but not delivered. Just that $500 million could:

  • Fund class size reduction that would affect more than 570,000 students;
  • Provide summer school for more than 450,000 students;
  • Bring research-based reading programs to more than 1.12 million students;
  • Pay for extended-year kindergarten for more than 263,000 students; and
  • Allow more than 357,000 public school students to attend smaller high schools."