What should the Federal Government do about Education

February 7, 2003 12:13 PM

The US Department of Education - Or Not?
A link or two for those who don't own a television. Or a Michael Jackson CD.
Reaction to federal initiatives like No Child Left Behind (which is directed purely at education, and has been discussed here before ) and Head Start (which has a social component, and has not (I think)) is starting to filter in.
Should the Federal Government worry about disparities in educational expenditures? Should it worry about how services are delivered?
posted by 314/ (4 comments total)

Sorry Kids; my copy/paste didn't catch it all. Here's the rest of the links (actually, the ones for discussion) that I wanted to put in on federal funding of
education.

And take it from me: don't try to put a long involved post on MeFi with your boss walking by your office every two minutes. Oh, the stress...
posted by 314/ at 12:20 PM on February 7, 2003

Huh? What does this have to do with TV or Michael Jackson?

Anyway, confusion over that aside, interesting to compare say, Alabama vs. say Vermont in $ per student, knowing how both of those states compare on tests.
posted by Pollomacho at 12:32 PM on February 7, 2003

Interesting that the no child left behind website doesn't mention that all of the "benefits" of the bill are null and void if the school doesn't provide the names and addresses of every student to US military recruiters. Oh, also, if they don't, they lose their funding.

Also: what does that have to do with Jacko?
posted by jaded at 1:28 PM on February 7, 2003

The charter school issue is an incredible hot potato in Massachusetts. Eleven new charter school proposals are on the DOE's table for this year. Local school boards and politicians are ranting and raving against the charter schools (my read, because they lose control and therefore power). The implications of NCLB are mostly going unnoticed due to a clear lack of policy enforcement when a school fails to perform. Check out this beauracratic nighmare for an example of how hard it is to extract your child from an underperfoming school.
posted by dhacker at 1:34 PM on February 7, 2003