Reply #136: "government" vs "political"

[LWolf]

I think the only way to guarantee equal access to high quality education is to keep it public. That means funded by the government. The sticking point is when public ed becomes a political tool for other agendas. Generally, the ruling class has a vested interest in ensuring that public education be as ineffective as possible; that's how they maintain the socio-economic divides.

Educators don't support NCLB. That's a political tool. For many years now, I've thought that I would like to see some broad national standards created by educators, not political bodies or politicians, national teacher certification (yes, there is such a thing, but it is in ADDITION to all of the hoops we jump through for each separate state; not a single certification process,) and national standards for things like class size, libraries, and support services. Equal funding for all across the state, and everything else under local control. Not the elected school board, but the school site council: a group of parents and educators at the school site who make all the decisions. Put the decision-making into the hands of the stakeholders, and make it the admins' job to facilitate those decisions.