Arne Duncan says he encounters no public opposition.

madfloridian

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Mon May-03-10 10:55 PM
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Arne Duncan says he encounters no public opposition.

It's strange he thinks that because so many teachers are up in arms about his expansion of the policies of the Bush era...privatizing public education.

Yet on the surface he may be right. He does not pay attention to the teachers who are fighting back on this issue. He simply ignores them. And since the media, so-called, never questions his policies....he could be sincere in thinking that.

He simply ignores the teachers, he is fawned over by the press. He has been given more power and money than previous Secretaries of Education, so he feels no need to be aware of what those in the public schools really think.

It's like being in a bubble.

Interesting article from the New York Times today on Arne Duncan and his powers.

Education Chief Vies to Expand U.S. Role as Partner on Local Schools

Well, to be fair he is buying their cooperation with money, several billion dollars worth to put his policies into play. In these economic times most school systems are hurting, and they would jump through hoops to get his money.

WASHINGTON � Education secretaries usually keep a low profile, in keeping with their agency�s backseat status to states and local districts, which control schools.

..."But there was Secretary of Education Arne Duncan one recent day, racing through Washington traffic in a black Chevrolet Suburban, sirens wailing to clear traffic on his 13-block trip to the National Public Radio studios for an hourlong call-in show that he crammed into his hectic schedule.

Arne has police escorts to help him get to his events?

Mr. Duncan is a man in a hurry. He has far more money to dole out than any previous secretary of education, and he is using it in ways that extend the federal government�s reach into virtually every area of education, from pre-kindergarten to college.

�This is the most assertive secretary of education we�ve ever had,� said Carl Kaestle, an education historian at Brown University who has studied the federal role in 20th-century American schooling.

Mr. Duncan has run a $4 billion school-improvement competition that led many states to change education laws to reflect his prescriptions. This month, the department is distributing $3.5 billion for the overhaul of thousands of failing schools. Mr. Duncan has been shuttling frequently to Capitol Hill to outline plans for a rewriting of the main federal law on public schools.

He says he encounters no opposition. When the Florida legislature put such policies into a bill, the teachers rose up and fought back. Crist vetoed in response.

Maybe Arne did not hear about that.

Teachers and their unions in other states are fighting back as well. Guess he is all isolated in the DC bubble and doesn't know that...or doesn't care.

He recently warned states not to water down their education plans to suit the teachers' unions.

Not if they want his money.

Mr. Duncan said in an interview that he welcomed the friction between union and state officials but warned against states weakening their overhaul plans simply to win buy-ins from unions. "Watered-down proposals with lots of consensus won't win," he said. "And proposals that drive real reform will win."

But really and truly he may just be right about facing public opposition. The right wing won't oppose him because he is installing the Bush policies into public education. Many Democrats won't oppose him because the administration is behind him.

Only a few bloggers are speaking out, yet none of the major blogs that are considered Democratic in nature have said much at all in opposition.