back to basics

Partisan politics have no place in the discussion of the No Child Left Behind education reform.

By Ruben Navarrette, Jr.

If you listen to the liberal English-language media or the ultra-liberal Spanish-language media, you might get the idea that Democrats are the white hats protecting Hispanics from those evil Republicans, who made a mess of the debate over immigration.
But that’s just one issue. Personally, I wonder who is going to protect Hispanics from Democrats and the evil that they do when it comes to stifling education reform.
CEOs and other leaders in the business community complain that there aren’t enough qualified workers to fill jobs so U.S. companies have to look aboard for a more-skilled labor force.
Democrats aren’t doing much to respond to those concerns. In fact, with their protectionist rhetoric and hostility toward trade, many of them seem more interested in helping U.S. workers—and the labor unions that represent them—hold on to what they have rather than ensuring that more people have the educational opportunities to help them succeed. Instead of growing the pie, they spend their time protecting those who already have a slice.
No one pays a higher price for that than Hispanics, the nation’s largest minority group but also—by many accounts—the most poorly educated one. It’s bad enough that Democrats oppose school choice and vouchers that would allow Hispanic parents to take their kids out of failing schools, oppose merit pay for teachers and higher standards for students, resist reforming bilingual education and oppose anything that makes the system more demanding. They put the interests of teachers above those of students.
But what is really troubling is that Democrats—including those in Congress and even some running for president—have tapped into those instincts in declaring war on No Child Left Behind, perhaps the most important educational reform law in the last half century and certainly the most controversial.
Not that it should be controversial. The law is cut and dried, and it doesn’t ask much. Proposed by the Bush Administration and passed by Congress in 2002, it requires that all students perform at grade level in reading and math by 2014 and relies on regular tests to gauge how well students—and by implication, teachers and administrators—are doing toward reaching that goal. It also separates data by racial and ethnic subgroups to get a sense for which students are in the greatest distress. Lastly, it empowers limited English-proficient students by preventing schools from testing them in their native language (usually Spanish) in perpetuity so we can find out how much progress they’re making.
Yet, to listen to Democrats, No Child Left Behind is more the problem than the solution. That view was on display during a recent presidential debate in Iowa. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) said that Americans “need a far better approach” on the law. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) agreed and said Congress ”shouldn’t reauthorize [the law] without changing it fundamentally.” Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) insisted that the law be brought more in line with the reality of teaching. And New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson called the law “a mess” and “a disaster” and promised to scrap it if he is elected president.
Failing grades all around. And, during that same debate, there was not a word from these candidates about how to increase accountability, raise standards, and enhance student performance.
Now the No Child Left Behind law is up for reauthorization, and it may have a tough time making it through a Democratic-controlled Congress that takes its orders from teacher unions. Those unions have made no secret of the fact that they would like to see the law tossed onto the scrap heap because they want to keep control over the educational process and keep their members happy by helping them avoid the annoyance of higher standards.
And yet Congressional Democrats don’t have the stomach to kill the law outright. After all, how would that look to voters? So they’re trying to water it down by putting in so many loopholes that it is no longer effective. They want to make it harder for parents to get information about how their children are performing, while making it easier for low-performing schools to avoid providing parents and children with options.
It is not personal. I’m sure that Democrats don’t set out to undermine the education of Hispanics. It is just one hand washing the other. Democrats are just taking care of the teacher unions that take care of them, at the expense of future generations.
Hispanics constantly tell pollsters that education is one of their top issues. Well, now is the time to prove it. They should be defending the No Child Left Behind law so that, in a school system that has become much too tolerant of failure, more students have a chance to succeed.

Ruben Navarrette, Jr. is a member of the editorial board of the San Diego Union-Tribune, a nationally syndicated columnist with The Washington Post Writers Group, and a regular contributor of commentary to CNN.com and USA TODAY.